The history of the unit, all fighters of which were awarded the Orders of Glory
At the end of 1944, the immediate task of the Red Army was to reach the borders of Germany and strike at Berlin. For this, favorable conditions were created, in particular, bridgeheads were captured on the western bank of the Vistula. True, it was necessary to replenish the troops with people and equipment. Lieutenant General G. Plaskov told me later that their 2nd Guards Tank Army had lost more than five hundred tanks and self-propelled guns in the battles for Poland.
The Germans were also preparing for the decisive battle. They did not succeed in throwing our units off the bridgeheads on the Vistula, but they feverishly strengthened the echeloned - seven lines - defense on the way to the Oder. The German command developed a plan for an attack on the Allied forces in the Ardennes.
By mid-December 1944, the Germans concentrated 300 thousand people in the Ardennes against 83 thousand from the allies. On December 16, at 5.30 am, the German offensive began. The 106th US Infantry Division was surrounded and destroyed. The 28th Infantry and 7th Armored Divisions were also defeated. The US 101st Airborne Division was surrounded. The allies rolled back 90 kilometers.
By the end of December, they managed to stabilize the situation, but on January 1, 1945, a second powerful blow by the Germans followed, accompanied by a strong bombing of airfields.
Churchill asks for help
On January 6, Stalin was informed that the British ambassador to Moscow was asking to be received. The British Prime Minister's “personal and highly secret message” read: “There are very heavy battles in the West, and big decisions may be required from the High Command at any time … I will be grateful if you can let me know if we can count on a an offensive on the Vistula front or elsewhere during January and at any other moment … I consider the matter urgent."
It was not even a request for help, but rather a plea. The very next morning Winston Churchill read: “Personally and strictly secret from Prime Minister I. V. Stalin to the Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill: … We are preparing for an offensive, but the weather now is not favorable for our offensive. However, given the position of our allies on the Western Front, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command decided to complete preparations at an accelerated pace and, regardless of the weather, open broad offensive operations against the Germans along the entire central front no later than the second half of January. You can rest assured that we will do everything that is possible to do in order to assist our glorious allied forces."
Front commanders G. Zhukov (1st Belorussian), K. Rokossovsky (2nd Belorussian), I. Konev (1st Ukrainian) and I. Petrov (4th Ukrainian) received a directive from Headquarters: early dates. In November 1966, I met with Marshal Konev several times and asked him how he reacted to the postponement of the operation for eight days.
“Only on January 9th Antonov phoned me on HF,” Ivan Stepanovich said. - He then served as chief of the General Staff, and on behalf of Stalin announced that the offensive should begin on January 12, in three days! He explained: the Allies have a difficult situation in the Ardennes and our offensive does not begin on January 20, but on January 12. I realized that this was an order and replied that I would obey it. This was not bravado, but a sober assessment of events: we were basically ready.
The Marshal began to give numbers. The front had 3,600 tanks and self-propelled guns, over 17,000 guns and mortars, 2,580 aircraft. The troops numbered 1 million 84 thousand people.
In units of the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian fronts, there were more than 2 million 112 thousand soldiers and commanders, plus the almost one hundred thousandth 1st Army of the Polish Army, formed and equipped on the territory of the USSR. She, of course, was aimed at Warsaw. Plus the troops of the left wing of the 2nd Belorussian and the right wing of the 4th Ukrainian fronts.
Half an hour before the attack …
Tough camouflage measures were taken. Army and divisional newspapers wrote a lot about how to build warm dugouts and prepare fuel. The Germans got the impression that the Russians were going to spend the winter on the Vistula. They erected false crossings, built plywood tanks and guns. Paradoxically, the Germans themselves helped in disguise. Almost every night from the German positions the following was heard: "Rus, dafai" Katyusha "!" And immediately from our side the sound-transmitting installations fulfilled the “request”. And under the loud sounds of a song, tanks, guns, Katyusha were ferried across the river.
The artillery of the 1st Belorussian Front was commanded by General V. I. Kazakov. In 1965, when I worked for a Moscow regional newspaper, we published a lot of materials in connection with the 20th anniversary of the Victory and the 25th anniversary of the battle for Moscow. General Kazakov, a Hero of the Soviet Union, holder of three orders of Suvorov, 1st degree, also came to the editorial office twice for interviews. Among the "techies" - tankers, artillerymen, aviators - this is a unique fact.
“We have concentrated over 11 thousand guns and mortars on both bridgeheads,” he said. - The first fire raid lasted not an hour, as usual, but 25 minutes. Most often, as soon as we opened fire, the enemy managed to withdraw his troops to the second and even third line of defense. We spent a lot of shells without causing much harm. And this time they hit the German defense to a depth of 6-8 km. The infantry went on the attack following the barrage, which the enemy did not expect.
According to the schedule, the commander of the 215th regiment of the 77th Guards Chernigov Rifle Division, Guards Colonel Bykov, gathered the battalion and company commanders and announced to them the exact date of the offensive. Basically, the regiment is ready to attack. The Chief of Staff of the Guard, Lieutenant Colonel Manaenko, introduces the order: “1. In the first echelons, organize meals with the calculation: in the morning of January 13, 1945, give out hot food and 100 grams each. vodka. 2. In the morning of January 14, 1945 to 7.00, finish serving a hot breakfast and 100 grams each. vodka. Before starting the action, 30-40 minutes. dry rations: boiled meat, bread, sugar, bacon, so that it lasts for the whole day, and give out 100 gr. vodka.
There was a need for vodka, for the weather was not just bad, but terrible. Now rain, then snow, thin porridge underfoot. Not only feet got wet - greatcoats and sheepskin coats became pood. The old Russian "drug" helped.
January 14, 1945. It's early morning, it's still dark. Heavy snow is falling, thick fog. The Military Council of the 1st Belorussian Front in full strength, headed by the commander, are forwarded to the Magnushevsky bridgehead. At 8.30 V. I. Kazakov ordered: open fire! A blow of colossal power hit the German positions.
The commander of the 1st rifle battalion of the guard, Major Boris Yemelyanov, put a platoon of Mikhail Guryev at the forefront of the attack. A sensible Siberian for his years - he is not yet 21 - fought since August 1943.
The sappers returned, reported: the passes were made, the mines were removed from the throwing routes. Emelyanov looked at his watch: 8.30. It rumbled so that the neighbor could not be heard. Over the German positions, a continuous curtain of fire and smoke. 8.55. The battalion commander nodded to Guryev: let's go! And then he handed over to the regiment headquarters: he went over to the attack.
9.00. Guryev shouts on the phone: he has mastered the first line! Emelyanov immediately duplicated the report to the regiment.
The first trench is behind. Machine gunner Sergeant Gavrilyuk rushes to the second line and falls: wounded. Bandages the wound and continues to fire, moving towards the next trench. The entire machine-gun crew is out of action. Left alone, the sergeant burst into the trench and fired a long burst from the machine gun. The trench is free.
9.25. The 2nd line of trenches was captured. 10.30. Has mastered the 3rd line. 11.00. Reached the level of 162, 8. The enemy offers weak resistance.
The battalion goes forward, but the left flank lags behind: there the enemy machine gun forced the soldiers to lie down. Private Bakhmetov makes his way to the rear of the machine gunner on his bellies, picking up a German grenade on the way. Throw, explosion, the machine gun falls silent.
13.15. We consolidated ourselves according to the verbal order of the division commander. Outrunning the fleeing infantry and escort tanks, tank brigades rushed forward. 20.00. During the day, we killed and wounded 71 people.
In one of the trenches, Guriev saw a group of Germans at a mortar. He and two other fighters rushed at them. Melee. Then they could not remember what they beat - with rifle butts or fists. Just took a breath, the orderlies carried the wounded company commander. Guriev - to the phone, reports to Emelyanov: I am replacing the company commander.
- Misha, hold on! - the battalion commander shouts in response.
The enemy could not withstand the organized attack of the battalions and began to withdraw his units.
An entry in the combat log of the 215th regiment for January 14: “Vigorously developing the offensive and relentlessly pursuing the defeated enemy, the regiment's subunits by the end of the day destroyed up to 80 soldiers and officers, captured trophies - 50 different caliber guns; machine guns 8; rifles 20.
The Germans abandoned their reserves, they were crushed, not allowing them to turn into battle formations. Already on the third day of the offensive, the German front was broken through with a width of 500 km and a depth of 100-120 km. Warsaw fell on that day. The military council of the front reported to Stalin: the fascist barbarians destroyed the capital of Poland. The city is dead.
The 69th Army (commander - Colonel-General Kolpakchi), which included Yemelyanov's battalion, advanced to the south, to Poznan. With a swift thrust, the army captured an important stronghold - the city of Radom. On other days, the battalion passed - with battles! - up to 20 km per day.
The 215th regiment withstood a tense battle for the Polish city of Lodz. On January 21, parts of the regiment, crossing the Warta River, reached the southwestern outskirts of Lodz. The blow was so swift and impudent that the Germans did not manage to send trains with cargo and equipment from the station. One train turned out to be unusual: with wounded German soldiers and officers. There were 800 of them. These prisoners brought a lot of trouble to the rear services: there were a lot of their own wounded, and then several hundred Germans fell on their heads, demanding leave.
While the 8th Guards Army stormed the 60,000th garrison of Poznan, the remaining units of the two fronts moved towards the Oder. On January 29, the 1st battalion reached the German-Polish border, and the next day, with a swift rush, it reached the Oder. Over 400 km with battles in two weeks!
In the military newspapers of that time, it was impossible to mention divisions, armies, even regiments and battalions. Only impersonal "part", "subdivision". In the same way, settlements and rivers were not indicated, so that the enemy did not find out which sector was being discussed. So the newspaper of the 69th Army "Battle Banner" mentioned the "Great German River". It was the Oder, to which the First Rifle Battalion had broken through.
A rare case: the operation has not yet ended, and the commander of the 77th Guards Division, General Vasily Askalepov, presents the 215th regiment to be awarded the Order of the Red Banner. I read the lines from the award list: from 14 to 27 January, up to 450 enemy soldiers and officers were destroyed, 900 people were taken prisoner, 11 warehouses, 72 guns, 10 mortars, 66 machine guns, 600 rifles, 88 vehicles were liberated, hundreds of settlements were liberated … On the same day, the commander of the 25th Rifle Corps, General Barinov, puts a resolution on the presentation: the 215th Guards Rifle Regiment is worthy of a government award. On February 19, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR awarded the regiment with the Order of the Red Banner. And the commander of the guard regiment, Colonel Nikolai Bykov, became a Hero of the Soviet Union.
The Military Council of the 69th Army discussed the results of the Vistula-Oder operation. And he made a unique decision: to reward the entire personnel of the battalion - and this is 350 people! - Orders of Glory III degree; all company commanders - orders of the Red Banner; and all platoon commanders were awarded the orders of Alexander Nevsky. And henceforth to call this unit "Battalion of Glory". And although there is no such name in the Red Army, it is not said anywhere that such a thing is prohibited. During the paperwork, it turned out that someone had already been awarded the Order of Glory of the third or even second degree. They were awarded orders of the second and first degrees. So in the battalion there were three full knights of the Order of Glory - the shooter R. Avezmuratov, the sapper S. Vlasov, the artilleryman I. Yanovsky. The military council of the army sent to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR a proposal for conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on battalion commander Boris Yemelyanov and platoon commander Mikhail Guryev. The document on the latter said that he was wounded 12 times and always returned to his unit. In total, during the war, Mikhail received 17 (!) Wounds, did not leave military service even after the Victory and retired to the reserve as a lieutenant colonel.
Oddly enough, in the archives of the 69th Army headquarters there were very few documents about the "Battalion of Glory". For example, I was not able to find out who was awarded posthumously, whether the recipients' relatives received the orders. (It was the Order of Glory of the dead and the dead that was allowed to be kept in families.) How was it with those who were wounded? And are there many of them? Either it was not up to the archive then, or our brother-journalist forgot to return the papers to the archive.
The capture of Berlin is postponed
The Vistula-Oder operation began on January 12 and ended on February 3. In three weeks of fighting, the Red Army advanced 500 km on a wide front. 35 Wehrmacht divisions were completely destroyed, 25 lost more than half of the composition. Almost 150 thousand German soldiers and officers were taken prisoner by the Soviets. Thousands of tanks, guns, and many other equipment were captured. Soviet troops reached the Oder, seized a bridgehead on the other side on the move.
Almost 20 years after that battle, I managed to visit these places. The events were reminded of the monuments to the Americans who fell here and the long, even rows of German graves with crosses and iron helmets.
Berlin was 70 kilometers away. Was it possible to capture the German capital then, in February 1945? The controversy around this unfolded immediately after the Victory. In particular, the hero of Stalingrad, Marshal V. I. Chuikov, complained that the commanders of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts did not get the Headquarters decision to continue the offensive in early February and capture Berlin. “This is not so,” Zhukov argued. Both he and Konev submitted such proposals to the Headquarters, and the Headquarters approved them. The Military Council of the 1st Byelorussian Front sent to its higher command staff tentative calculations for the near future. The second point read: by active actions to consolidate the success, replenish stocks "and take Berlin with a swift rush on February 15-16." The orientation was signed by Zhukov, member of the Military Council Telegin, chief of staff Malinin.
Many years later I happened to meet with Konstantin Fedorovich Telegin. I asked: could we really capture Berlin in February 1945?
“At the end of January, this issue was discussed at the Military Council,” he replied. - Intelligence reported on the opposing enemy. It turned out that the advantage was on our side. So they turned to the Headquarters, they supported us and began to prepare for the last assault. But soon we had to retreat … Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, analyzing the situation, came to the conclusion that the danger of a blow by large German forces - up to forty divisions - from Eastern Pomerania was ripe over our right flank and rear. If we broke through to Berlin, the already stretched right flank would become very vulnerable. The Germans could have simply surrounded us, destroyed our rear, and the matter could have ended tragically. First of all, it was necessary to eliminate this threat. The rate agreed with us.
In turn, as a result of the Vistula-Oder operation of the Soviet army, the German command realized the danger of the situation on the Eastern Front, and from the Ardennes, on tractors, railway platforms and on their own, tank divisions urgently reached the east - 800 tanks and assault guns. Infantry units were also transferred. In total, the German strike group in the Ardennes "lost weight" by 13 divisions in 10-12 days. The Allied command could begin offensive operations near the borders of Germany and on its territory, having a huge advantage in manpower and equipment.
On January 17, Churchill wrote to Stalin: "On behalf of His Majesty's Government and with all my heart, I want to express our gratitude to you and to bring congratulations on the occasion of the gigantic offensive that you launched on the eastern front."
During the Vistula-Oder operation, 43,251 soldiers and a commander were killed on two fronts. And nearly 150 thousand more were injured; not all of them returned to service after treatment. 600 thousand Soviet soldiers and officers were killed in the battles for the liberation of Poland. It is impossible to calculate how many American and British lives were saved by the Vistula-Oder operation.
Hundreds, thousands of such battalions as the battalion of Boris Yemelyanov took part in that battle, showing heroism and military skill. Both those who fell before reaching the first German trench and those who met the American soldiers on the Elbe, with their blood, or even their lives, contributed to our common victory.
