She could not resist the onslaught of the enemy, because she did not meet modern requirements at all.
One of the reasons for Russia's defeat in World War I was the catastrophically quick surrender of all Russian fortresses in 1915. Whereas in France the fortresses (Verdun and others) stopped the German offensive in 1914.
ABOVE - DO NOT ABOLISH
The construction of modern fortresses on the western borders of the Russian Empire began at the behest of Nicholas I back in 1831. Six decades later, by December 20, 1893, there were fortresses of the first and second lines on these lines (Novogeorgievsk, Brest-Litovsk, Ivangorod, Warsaw, Kovno, Osovets, Zegrzh). They were armed with 5,068 artillery pieces, mostly heavy ones (guns of the 1867 and 1877 models: 203-mm - 203, 152-mm - 1642, 122-mm - 477, 107-mm - 1027, mortars of the 1867 and 1877 models: 203 -mm - 145, 152-mm - 371).
Note that during the times of Alexander II and Alexander III, the quality of Russian guns was in no way inferior to their German counterparts. Fortunately, they were designed by the same engineers - from the Krupp company.
Based on the data of the officers of the Prussian General Staff, Friedrich Engels wrote: “The Russians, especially after 1831, did what their predecessors had failed to do. Modlin (Novogeorgievsk), Warsaw, Ivangorod, Brest-Litovsk form a whole system of fortresses, which, in terms of the combination of its strategic capabilities, is the only one in the world."
However, during the reign of Nicholas II in Russia, not a single heavy modern weapon was created (that is, with a rollback along the axis of the channel), unless, of course, we do not count the 6-inch (152-mm) howitzer of the 1909 model. But it was more of a corps rather than a serf tool. As a result, by the end of the first decade of the twentieth century, the Russian fortress artillery park was pretty outdated: about 30% of its composition accounted for guns of the 1877 model, 45% - 1867, 25% - smooth-bore systems from the time of Nicholas I. And not a single new cannon, howitzers or mortars among 11 thousand guns!
Due to the lack of new products in 1911, siege (that is, heavy land) artillery was disbanded in Russia. Her guns were scrapped or stored in fortresses. And she would appear again in the Russian army according to the plans of the inspector general of artillery, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, only by 1922. The serf artillery would have received new guns by 1930.
Meanwhile, plans for the construction of Western fortresses in Russia were radically revised almost every year. In February 1909, following a report by the head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff, V. A. At the same time, the tsar approved the speedy restoration of the fortifications of Brest-Litovsk, Kronstadt, Vyborg, Vladivostok, since, Sukhomlinov argued, “it would be treason to keep the fortresses in the state they were in then.”
True, a year and three months later, in May 1910, the new head of the GUGSH, General E. A. Gerngross, asked Nikolai for another command, according to which the fortresses of Novogeorgievsk, Batum, Ust-Dvinsk and Ochakov were not only not abolished, but had to be rebuilt. to meet modern requirements. You shouldn't be surprised at this. At various times, the king, without further ado, agreed with mutually exclusive opinions. For example, on January 1, 1910, he allowed the Ivangorod fortress to be abolished. And on November 26, 1913, he pushed "The highest approval for the preservation and partial reconstruction of the Ivangorod fortress."
In the course of this confusion, it was decided to create another powerful citadel in the west - in Grodno. It is rightfully called the last fortress of the Russian Empire.
CITADEL OF THE SAMPLE OF THE XIX CENTURY
Back in 1831, during the period of the Polish revolt in St. Petersburg, they decided to enclose Grodno with earthworks. However, while the bureaucratic red tape was going on, the violent gentlemen were pacified, and therefore everything that was planned remained on paper. It is curious that the authorities at that time introduced a special tax for local residents in order to obtain additional funds for construction. The money was regularly collected for several years. Where did they go then - the secret of the Engineering Department.
On August 4, 1912, Nicholas II approved the next plan for the construction of the Grodno fortress. It was supposed to consist of 16 forts corresponding to standard designs developed by military engineers K. I. Velichko, N. A. Buinitsky and V. V. Malkov-Panin, 18 letter strong points for half a company, 38 numbered strong points for an infantry platoon.
After discussion, changes were made to the plan, and it was reviewed on June 2, 1912 by the Engineering Committee of the Main Engineering Directorate. In the new version, the number of forts decreased to 13, numbered strongholds - to 23, and letters - increased to 19. In addition, it was planned to build open batteries for large-caliber guns, separate shelters for infantry, powder magazines, an airfield, a dam, a road and a row auxiliary structures. The border of the fortress area was about 10 km from the projected line of forts.
It should be noted right away that the fortress project is outdated by 40-50 years. The city center was located at a distance of 6-8 km from the line of forts and could even be fired upon by enemy corps artillery. Moreover, since the end of the 80s of the XIX century, Russian officers - general staff officers and engineers - proposed to connect the western fortresses with a continuous line of fortifications, that is, to create fortified areas. But the ministers of war, Generals A. N. Kuropatkin and V. A. Sukhomlinov, were going to wage the war according to the rules of the mid-19th century.
On July 2, 1912, the newly-made Major General D. P. Kolosovsky was appointed the builder of the Grodno Fortress. On September 1, 1912, he was issued with an order from the Main Engineering Committee, which read: “Present now a plan for the distribution of loans for the 4 years of 1912-1915, guided by the consideration of the cost of engineering work and blanks, bearing in mind that the Grodno fortress the amount of 15,950,000 rubles. already allocated in 1912 204,000 rubles. and is intended for appropriation in 1913 - 3,746,000 rubles, in 1914 - 5,000,000 rubles. and 1915 - 7,000,000 rubles."
Note that the allocated money was clearly not enough, since the cost of building only one fort No. 4 near the village of Strelchiki reached 2,300,000 rubles at 1913 prices.
The work around Grodno was to be finally completed in 1917. However, already on August 23, 1913, the Imperial command declared the city a fortress, although the construction of the main fortress position was at an early stage. The fortress also did not have a real garrison and weapons. Nevertheless, Lieutenant General M. N. Kaigorodov was appointed her commandant.
The front of the work was divided between 14 construction sites, the chiefs of which were engineering officers. In addition to the soldiers, civilian workers and local peasants hired by civilian contractors worked here.
When building the forts of Grodno, the project of 1909, developed by General K. I. Velichko, was taken as a basis. Its peculiarity was that practically from the very beginning of work, the fortification was adapted for defense. At the first stage of construction - as a field redoubt, then - as a temporary stronghold with a concrete parapet and a moat with the rudiments of countermine galleries and porches, which could be used as safe shelters during bombing. Last but not least, intermediate and gorge semi-caponiers, gorge barracks were built, escarps and counter-escarps were faced.
And yet, by the beginning of the World War, not a single fort of the Grodno fortress was even half ready. Each fortification had only rifle parapet and under-parapet galleries. They did not have time to build any wardrobe trunks (on some forts, work on their construction had just begun), or half-caponiers, let alone a porch, counter-mine galleries and gorzha barracks. In addition to large forts, several so-called small forts were erected, consisting of 1, 3, 4, 5 fort groups.
WAR
On July 13, 1914, General of Infantry MN Kaigorodov signed order No. 45, the first paragraph of which read: "By the Imperial command, I declare the fortress of Grodn on martial law." At the same time, the entire Grodno region was transferred to martial law.
The next day, a telegram was received from the Minister of Internal Affairs N. A. Maklakov, ordering to put into effect the "Regulations on the preparatory period for the war." On July 16, Nicholas II announced mobilization, then he canceled it, and early in the morning of July 17 announced it again. On July 19 (that is, on August 1, according to the new style), Germany proposed to Russia to stop calling for storekeepers and, having received a refusal, declared war on it.
Not only people were subject to mobilization, but also cars and motorcycles. The drivers who drove these cars, after being examined by medical commissions and not being rejected by them, were considered from that moment on to military service. (I will note in parentheses that the corresponding document stated: "Persons belonging to Judaism cannot be chauffeurs in the army.")
The owners of cars who did not provide them at the disposal of the army on time without a valid reason could be imprisoned for up to three months. However, the notorious ballerina Kshesinskaya did not give any of her three iron horses to the military, but, of course, she did not go to jail …
As for Grodno, 22 cars and 5 motorcycles were taken away from the local inhabitants. All of them were placed at the disposal of the commandant of the fortress.
Meanwhile, the construction of the Grodno fortress did not stop. In the research of VN Tilepitsa “The Fortress City. Grodno during the First World War "this situation is described as follows:" If at the end of July - beginning of August 1914, 2746 people and 301 carts worked at defensive objects from Grodno and the district, then in March 1915 there were already 7596 people and 1896 carts. And by March 15, 1915, 28,515 people and 8350 carts were employed in all serf and positional work in the fortified area."
On December 31, 1914, says V. N. Tcherepitsa in his book, from Grodno and other western provinces of Russia, a mass expulsion of “all German male colonists aged 15 years and older, except for the sick, who could not withstand the move, began. When evicting, be guided by the following instructions: 1) colonists should be understood as all peasants, Russian subjects of German nationality; 2) Germanized Lithuanian Lutherans are also subject to eviction”.
In the fall of 1914, Nicholas II deigned to inspect the fortresses in the front line. On October 30, the tsar arrived in Ivangorod. First of all, he and the commandant Schwartz went to the fortress cathedral, then to the battery number 4, after which he visited the church in Opatstvo. “I stopped at Fort Vannovsky … I returned to the train with darkness,” the emperor writes in his diary. Let me remind you that sunset on October 30 (old style) at 16.30. Thus, the cathedral, church, battery and fort took about three hours for His Majesty.
But back to the tsar's diary: “November 1. Saturday. At 10 o'clock. in the morning I drove to Grodna. Received officials and deputations from the provinces. At 10 1/2 Alix arrived with Olga and Tatiana. It was joyful to meet. We went together to the cathedral, and then to the two infirmaries with the wounded. The weather was cold and rainy. We had breakfast on the train. At 2 1/4, I went with the commandant Kaigorodov through the city along the Osovetskoye highway. I got to Fort No. 4 on the hill. I listened to a report on the work to strengthen the defense of the fortress. I examined the fort and then battery No. 19. I returned to the train at about 5 o'clock."
So, it took only three hours to get there and back and to inspect the battery and the fort.
Such is the monarch's attention paid to the western fortresses of Russia!
IN THE MAIN OLD
By the beginning of the First World War, the most powerful guns of the Grodno fortress were 24 six-inch cannons of the 1904 model. Although they were released after the Japanese campaign, they were designed back in the early 90s of the 19th century and differed from earlier prototypes only in slightly improved ballistics and a wedge gate that replaced the piston.
In addition, the fortress artillery included 95 six-inch (8550 rounds of ammunition) and 24 42-line, that is, 107-mm guns (3600 rounds) of the 1877 model. It was supposed to use 12 battery and 57 light cannons as anti-assault guns. Let me explain for the modern reader: we are talking about the 107-mm and 87-mm field guns of the 1877 model. The fortress also had 53 new three-inch (76-mm) anti-assault guns of the 1910 model on wheeled carriages.
For mounted combat, 23 six-inch Schneider howitzers of the 1909 model and 8 eight-inch mortars of the 1877 model were intended. But the latter, apparently, could not fire.
The funny thing is that the Tsar and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, in the first months of the war, decided to use Russian serf artillery against enemy … fortresses. On October 10 (23), 1914, the Headquarters gave the order to send guns from Kovno to Konigsberg, from Grodno to Thorn and Graundenets, from Osovets to Letzen, and from Novogeorgievsk to Poznan. But soon the situation on the fronts changed dramatically and the transfer was canceled …
… The year 1915 came, and the armament of the Grodno fortress remained the same as in August 1914. Meanwhile, the German troops approached it closer and closer, and the Russian generals, forgetting about Konigsberg and Thorn, began feverishly, from pine forest to pine, to collect artillery for Grodno. In particular, at the end of 1914 - March 1915, four six-inch cannons and eight 42-line guns of the 1877 model were sent from the Vyborg fortress to Belarus. Another 12 six-inch cannons and four 42-line guns were brought from Petrograd. In addition, fifty 57-mm Nordenfeld coastal guns from coastal fortresses, which were used there for zeroing heavy guns, were received in Grodno.
At the end of the summer of 1915, two 10-inch (254-mm) coastal guns on Durlyakher machines and 493 TNT bombs were delivered to Grodno from the 2nd battalion of the heavy cannon artillery regiment in Grodno, as well as four 152-mm Kane cannons with 1200 TNT bombs and 113 shrapnel. These guns were installed in Grodno on temporary wooden bases.
In early 1915, Russia purchased twenty-seven 28-cm howitzers and thirty-four 24-cm howitzers from Japan, although they were at least 20 years out of date. Fourteen 28-cm and ten 24-cm howitzers were met in Grodno in September 1915. Not only were these guns old, they were accompanied by shells filled with smokeless powder at the end of the 19th century. In terms of high-explosive action, they were several times inferior to TNT shells of the same caliber.
In addition to the above, in accordance with the telegram of the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief dated June 16, 1915, seven 11-inch cannons of the 1877 model of the year with 340 shots per barrel were sent from the Sevastopol fortress to Grodno in the second half of 1915, 24 nine-inch coastal mortars of the 1877 model with 200 rounds per barrel and 60 field guns of the 1877 model. But these guns did not hit the Grodno fortress. Three 11-inch guns were returned back to Sevastopol, and the rest of the guns were sent to the formation of reserve battalions of fortress artillery.
AN GLORIOUS DEATH
In August 1915, German troops broke through to Grodno. On August 16, two corps were transferred to the direct subordination of the commandant of the fortress M. N. Kaigorodov - Consolidated Osovetsky (57th and 111th infantry divisions) and 1st Army (22nd and 24th infantry divisions). On the flanks of Grodno, units of four more corps under the command of generals Artemyev, Balanin, Evreinov and Korotkevich were covered. On the same day, an order was issued to the Osovetsky and 1st Army Corps to leave their positions and take up defensive positions on the fortress bypass. In the area from the village of Trichi to Fort No. 4, the 24th Infantry Division under the command of Major General Polyansky (4,500 bayonets) and the 118, 119, 120, 239th squads of the state militia attached to it were located. Their neighbors on the right and left were the 57th and 22nd Infantry Divisions.
On August 17, the Germans attacked units of the 1st Army Corps and, after a stubborn battle, managed to move forward. The next morning, having deployed one division in the direction of the villages of Rogachi, Belyany, Kustintsy, the enemy took possession of the Russian positions on the move.
On August 21 (September 2), German troops crossed the Neman on pontoons. Fights broke out in the streets of Grodno. By the middle of the day on August 22, the Germans occupied the city, capturing over two thousand prisoners.
According to the report of the command of the Grodno fortress, by 21.00 on August 22, most of its forts were blown up. But in reality, they received only minor damage. It is easy to be convinced of this even now by visiting the abandoned fortifications. Some forts generally remained intact. For example, Captain Desnitsky reported in his report: “They could not blow up anything at Fort IV, since the cords were taken from the demolition men by the lower ranks. The powder magazine was not blown up, because it was occupied by the Germans before we left the fort."
Yes, the last fortress of the Russian Empire perished ingloriously …
Most of the fortress artillery fell into the hands of the enemy intact. It is curious that German specialists inserted new 238 mm pipes into two 10-inch (254-mm) guns on the carriages of Durlyakher. Thanks to this, it was possible to improve the ballistic data of the guns, which were listed in the Kaiser's army and the Wehrmacht as the 24-cm SKL / 50 cannon. They did not have time to participate in the First World War. But from July 1940 to August 1944, they had a chance to hold the English Channel at gunpoint while on the Oldenburg battery, located a few kilometers north of Calais.
