Immediately: this is not a myth. This is the most that neither is the story into which the crews of Soviet bombers flew in their cars in the sky over the Berezina River at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War. This is a legend.
Probably many of the readers remember this episode, which was described in his book (and later in the film) "The Living and the Dead" by Konstantin Simonov.
When the main character Sintsov goes to Bobruisk and learns that the crossing over the Berezina is busy, three TB-3s fly over him. Then they bomb the crossing, bomb explosions are heard, bombers fly backwards, and they are shot down by German fighters.
The selected pilot, who escaped with a parachute, angrily says that they were sent to bomb during the day without being accompanied by fighters.
This story happened on June 30, 1941. But it was not about three or even six TB-3. Everything was much more tragic.
Konstantin Simonov, who was a witness, was not a specialist. The front correspondent is forgivable. But he saw that they were shooting down not only TB-3s, but also planes of other models. The pilots who were picked up by the truck in which Simonov was traveling were just from the crew of the DB-3.
Just to write about such a rout, which the Germans staged in the sky over Bobruisk, would hardly have raised even Simonov's hand. Indeed, on a black day for bomber aviation, June 30, 52 crews of long-range and heavy bombers were shot down in the Berezina area.
This does not include the lost front-line SB, Yak-4 and Su-2, which also took part in raids on the crossings.
In fact, three bomber regiments were lost by 80%. And then the question arises: who is to blame for what happened?
In general, any state of emergency has a full name. This is an axiom, unless we are talking about natural phenomena.
First, about TB-3. Anyone, even a person who is not very well versed in aviation matters, is clear and understandable that only an incompetent fool or a traitor can send these machines to bomb during the day and without fighter cover.
And you can remove the "or", because this man was a traitor in relation to the pilots.
I present to you the commander of the Western Front - Hero of the Soviet Union, General of the Army Dmitry Grigorievich Pavlov.
On July 22, 1941, by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, he was sentenced "for cowardice, unauthorized abandonment of strategic points without the permission of the high command, the collapse of command and control, inaction of the authorities" to capital punishment and shot. He was buried at the NKVD training ground near Moscow. In 1957 he was posthumously rehabilitated and restored to the military rank.
I will not comment on these details, I gave it only to understand the overall picture.
It was the front commander Pavlov who gave (by the way, over the head of the commander of the 3rd air corps Skripko and the commander of the 52nd long-range bomber division Tupikov) the order to the commanders of the 3rd dbap Zaryansky and 212 dbap Golovanov to strike at the crossings on the Berezina river.
The regiment commander Zaryansky already had a plan for the bombing missions at night, but Pavlov canceled it with his order. There was nothing to be done, and Zaryansky sent six TB-3 aircraft in the afternoon.
The question immediately arises: why was there no fighter cover?
Three reasons.
First. In the troops, and aviation is no exception, on the sixth day of the war there was a complete mess in terms of command and control. Telephone communications were constantly disrupted due to the actions of both German aviation, which bombed airfields, and sabotage groups that clearly violated communication lines.
Second. This sortie was not coordinated with the commanders of the fighter units and formations. How our generals commanded in those days, we generally have an idea. "At any cost" and stuff like that. It is quite possible that general-tanker Pavlov did not bother at all with such issues as fighter cover for bombers, so the fighter commanders might not have given such an order.
Third. Even if the order was given, it is necessary that the fighters urgently have at their disposal fueled, charged planes and pilots ready to take off for escort. This is also a difficult question.
Since the 3rd dbap was planning to take off at night, the planes, of course, were ready. So are the crews.
I don’t know with what stone in his heart Zaryansky sent his crews during the day, I don’t know with what thoughts the pilots got into the cockpits of their cars, but six TB-3s flew to the target.
A necessary digression.
TB-3. The maximum speed with M-17F engines at an altitude of 3000 m was 200 km / h, at the ground and even less - 170 km / h. The maximum rate of climb is 75 meters per minute. Turn - 139 seconds.
Armament. 8 machine guns YES, caliber 7, 62 mm. A twin open installation in the nose, two Tur-5 turrets rolling from side to side behind the trailing edge of the wing also with coaxial machine guns YES and two retractable B-2 towers under the wing, each of which had one YES on the kingpin. On airplanes of early releases, single YES were stationed at all points. Power machine guns from disks of 63 rounds. All paired installations had a stock of 24 discs, underwing ones - 14 discs each.
It is clear that against the armored Messerschmitt with cannons and belt-fed machine guns, it was like a Mosin rifle against the MG-34.
TB-3 took off at 16:15 and by 18:00 crawled to the crossing. They bombed, and then the German fighters returned, which two hours earlier had torn apart the DB-3 from the 212 dbap, which also bombed without fighter cover.
Another digression.
DB-3. Maximum speed at an altitude of 439 km / h, at the ground 345 km / h. Defensive armament - three machine guns ShKAS 7, 62 mm.
Plus 200 km / h and ShKAS instead of Degtyarev's completely useless ratchets. But even this did not save the crews that were shot down by the Messerschmitts.
And TB-3 had no chance at all.
Six TB-3s took part in the flight, which were led by the crews:
- Captain Georgy Prygunov;
- Captain Mikhail Krasiev;
- Senior Lieutenant Mikhail Glagolev;
- Senior Lieutenant Tikhon Pozhidaev;
- Lieutenant Arsen Khachaturov;
- Lieutenant Alexander Tyrin.
These people did their best. We reached the crossing. Despite the air defense fire, we made TWO approaches to the target, dropping bombs. And they went back. It was on the retreat that German fighters intercepted them.
I have already given a picture, you just have to figure out what a shooter with a Degtyarev machine gun and discs can do against an aircraft flying at a speed of 300 km / h more and firing from two MG-17s, each of which has 1000 rounds in the tape. And you don't need to recharge. I'm not even talking about MG-FF.
In 4 minutes, four out of six TB-3s were set on fire. The ships of Pozhidaev, Tyrin and Khachaturov were shot down, some of the crews escaped by parachute. Prygunov was able to bring the TB-3 to the territory where the Soviet troops were located, after which he made an emergency landing. TB-3 Krasiev received numerous damages, but held out to his airfield, and TB-3 Glagolev did not receive any damage and calmly sat down at his airfield. Lucky.
However, one should not assume that such a mess reigned everywhere. No, on the contrary. Where big bosses did not go in with their incompetent orders, everything was completely different. Yes, in some places the losses were huge. But most of them were associated with the fact that people and equipment were thrown into battle thoughtlessly, to outright destruction. If the use was done wisely, then there were no such catastrophic losses.
An example is the combat report of the commander 3 TBAP dated 1941-01-07. It says that in the night from 30.06 to 01.07, 55 sorties were made by the forces of the 29 TB-3 regiment.23 aircraft returned to their airfield, 4 were shot down, 2 were forced to land. That is, those who were used competently did not suffer such losses. At night, the slow-moving TB-3s turned out to be quite suitable for work.
But on June 30, 1941, something incomprehensible and tragic was happening in the skies of the Western Front. In addition to the already mentioned 212 and 3 heavy bomber regiments, the aviation of the Baltic Fleet was also thrown into the air meat grinder.
It's time to show the next "hero" again.
Commander of the Baltic Fleet, Admiral Vladimir Filippovich Tributs. He was not subjected to repression, he lived to old age, on the whole life was a success.
But on June 30, with an unwavering hand, Admiral Tributs sent three regiments of naval aviation to the Dvinsk / Daugavpils region (330 km north of Bobruisk).
- 1st mine and torpedo aviation regiment;
- 57th Bomber Aviation Regiment;
- 73 Bomber Aviation Regiment.
The crews of these regiments were to bomb two bridges across the Western Dvina River, captured by operational Mr. Manstein. Who at the headquarters of the fleet remembered about the naval regiments that had almost no losses, which were engaged in laying mines, it is now impossible to say. But the show has begun. Tributs gave the order.
A very interesting situation developed: the headquarters of the KBF Air Force was in Tallinn, the 73rd bap in Pärnu, the 57th bap, 1 mtap and the headquarters of the 8th brigade, which included all these regiments, were near Leningrad.
The brigade headquarters had a telephone connection with the 73rd regiment, but no one with the 1st and 57th. There was no communication even between the headquarters of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet and the command of the 8th Naval Air Brigade. According to the memoirs, orders from the Air Force headquarters were transferred to where they could be received (for example, to the headquarters of the 61st air brigade), and from there they were passed on to the 8th air brigade by messengers.
And quite as expected, instead of a coordinated strike by more than 100 bombers, separate strikes of three regiments turned out. Which, quite expectedly, the German fighters beat as they wanted.
The most unpleasant thing is that the bombers again flew unaccompanied. Yes, the Red Banner Baltic Fleet fighters could not provide coverage in terms of range, but fighter aircraft of the Western Front operated in the Daugavpils area. However, according to available information, the issue of fighter cover was not raised at all.
As a result, the bombers were thrown at targets located at different distances from the airfields where the air regiments were based: 300 km for the 73rd regiment and about 450 km for the 1st and 57th regiments.
So, the crews of the naval regiments flew to bomb the bridges on the Western Dvina without cover, with scattered forces of individual squadrons.
The excellent organization has led you understand to what result.
Reconnaissance was carried out and, according to its results, aircraft of the 73rd regiment went to the target early in the morning of June 30. The first to reach the target were 6 SB bombers, of which the Germans shot down 5. This happened at about 8:30 am.
At about the same time, the crews of the 57th Aviation Regiment went into battle. We started two DB-3s, which conducted reconnaissance of the situation at the bridges, dropped bombs and transmitted information by radio.
True, no one accepted the radiograms, and 15 DB-3 and DB-3F bombers flew out on a mission. The groups were commanded by captains Khrolenko and Chemodanov.
Simultaneously with them, two SB groups from the 73rd regiment approached the area. These were 5 cars, driven by senior lieutenant Kosov, and 6 cars of captain Ivanov. Kosov acted very carefully and brought all the vehicles back without loss.
Then the Germans lifted into the air all the fighters they could, and in the sky over Dvinsk there were about 30 Messerschmitts.
Of the 9 DB-3Fs of Captain Khrolenko's group, 4 cars were shot down, and the rest were damaged. The survivors managed to hide in the clouds.
A group of SB bombers of the 73rd regiment under the command of Captain Ivanov lost 4 of 6 vehicles.
One of the crews of this group, the plane of Junior Lieutenant Pyotr Pavlovich Ponomarev, after being shot down, repeated the feat of Gastello, having made a fiery ram of German troops on the highway. For a very long time, the crew was listed as missing and has not been awarded to this day.
Today, when the fate of the crew of Junior Lieutenant Ponomarev has been established, it would be quite reasonable to note the heroes' feat. Even after 80 years.
Noon.
A group of 8 Ar-2 captain Syromyatnikov from the 73rd regiment approached the crossings. The planes worked from a height of 1400 meters, but they did not work accurately because of the decent altitude. The Germans did not notice this group, and they safely left for the airfield.
But two SBs of the same 73 regiment half an hour after the Ar-2 attack were discovered, and the planes were shot down.
By 13 o'clock, the planes of the 1st mtap, which took off at about 11:00 from the airfields near Leningrad, approached the targets. DB-3 and DB-3F of this regiment were in the ranks of squadrons, and before the departure, the flag navigator of the 8th air brigade, Captain Ermolaev, told the pilots that there were no German fighters over the target. In general, Ermolaev lied. Enemy fighters over Dvinsk were waiting for the next wave of Soviet bombers.
The 1st mine-torpedo air regiment took off in four groups:
- 6 DB-3 Captain Grechishnikov;
- 9 DB-3A captain Chelnokov;
- 9 DB-3F captain Plotkin;
- 8 DB-3F captain Davydov took off with a delay of half an hour.
Approaching the target, our pilots found that the Germans were waiting for them. A uniform battle began in the air, as a result of which 4 of 6 aircraft of Captain Grechishnikov's group were shot down, 4 of 9 aircraft of Captain Chelnokov were shot down, 6 of 9 aircraft of Captain Plotkin.
Total - 14 out of 24.
It cannot be said that our bombers played the role of replenishing the accounts of the Luftwaffe aces. Five Messerschmitts out of 30 in the sky over Dvinsk were shot down by our crews.
During these battles, a unique event occurred in the history of aviation. The crew of junior lieutenant Pyotr Stepanovich Igashov made a double ram. Firstly, there is evidence that one of the five enemy fighters shot down in that one was shot down by the gunner of this crew.
Then the ignited DB-3F Igashova rammed a German fighter, which was gaining altitude and found itself in front of the nose of the damaged bomber. After that, the plane went into a dive and crashed into the midst of the German troops, also making a "fiery" ram.
None of the four crew members jumped out. We decided to go with the commander to the end.
Sadly, if Captain Gastello received the posthumous title of Hero of the Soviet Union, then the crew of Junior Lieutenant Igashov was forgotten for 25 years. And only in 1965, on the eve of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Victory, was the rewarding of the crew commander, junior lieutenant Pyotr Stepanovich Igashov, navigator junior lieutenant Dmitry Grigorievich Parfenov, gunner-radio operator junior lieutenant Alexander Mitrofanovich Khokhlachev, shooter of the Red Navy sailor Vasily Loginovich posthumously.
Justice triumphed in 1995, when the crew was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Russia.
The crew commander Pyotr Igashov remained alive during this ram. He was captured by the Germans and then, in October 1941, shot by the Gestapo.
Captain Davydov's last group of bombers was lucky. After running out of fuel, the fighters began to return to the airfields, so the group lost only one aircraft.
What the Germans could not do, ours simply decided to finish. And in the headquarters a brilliant decision was made: "We can repeat it." And the surviving crews were ordered to fly out again …
True, there was no one to really do it. The majority of the returning planes were in such a state that there was no question of any repeated departure.
The second time flew Ar-2 captain Syromyatnikov from the 73rd regiment, bombed without loss for the first time. They carried out the second bombing at about 19:30 with seven planes and again did not lose ANY car. This squadron turned out to be the ONLY one that did not lose a single crew on that rainy day.
But before Syromyatnikov's raid, the 57th BAP sent 8 SB aircraft under the command of Captain Rubtsov and 6 DB-3F aircraft of Captain Efremov to Dvinsk on other missions in the morning.
In fact, that was all that the three regiments could scrape together after the first raid. And these crews did not fly to Dvinsk.
Captain Rubtsov failed the mission. The group lost its bearings and scattered. Two planes landed in Staraya Russa, six reached the target, where they came under air defense fire. Not a single plane returned. One car with a damaged engine got into an emergency, five were shot down over the target.
Captain Efremov, being the last to reach the goal, performed a miracle. He turned to the east and entered from where the Germans did not expect him. The Germans were able to shoot down only one plane out of six. The rest were able to successfully bomb and return.
As a result, the crossing was destroyed. For three whole days. Then the Germans pulled up the engineering units and restored it.
The Baltic Fleet bombers lost 34 aircraft downed, and all those who returned were in varying degrees of damage. In fact, by the end of the day on June 30, all three bomber regiments had ceased to exist. Plus two heavy bomber regiments near Bobruisk.
There was nothing to fly further. Some of the aircraft had to be rebuilt, but the main problem was that experienced crews were lost.
The 73rd regiment was taken to re-equip the Pe-2, the 57th regiment was re-equipped with the Il-2.
1 mtap was completed with DB-3F, which remained on the fly. Evgeny Preobrazhensky was appointed commander. Under his command from the island of Saaremaa on the night of August 7-8, 1941, 15 DB-3Fs, led by Preobrazhensky, will take off and bomb Berlin.
15 crews is all that they could scrape together after the Dvina meat grinder. Not an easy task: take off at night, fly to Berlin and return back. Now, after reading this material, no one should be surprised by this moment. There was no one to fly. And all thanks to the frank shortsightedness and unprofessionalism of our generals and admirals.
It is not always pleasant to read such materials. Not very pleasant to write. But this is our story. The way it is.
Eternal glory to the heroes who fell in the battles for our freedom!
