How the Urals created a tank corps that beat the Nazis from Kursk to Prague
On March 11, Russia celebrates the Day of National Feat for the formation of the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps during the Great Patriotic War. Patriotic War.
This memorable date, celebrating the feat Soviet people during the war years, appeared on the calendar in 2012, when the governor of the Sverdlovsk region issued a corresponding decree, where the first paragraph reads: “Set a significant date for the Sverdlovsk region “Day of National Feat” for the formation of the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps during the Great Patriotic War” and celebrate it every year on March 11th."
Historical event, which served as the basis for the establishment of the holiday, occurred in 1943. The Ural Volunteer Tank Corps was formed in 1943 and equipped with weapons and equipment manufactured by the workers of the Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk and Molotov regions (now the Perm Territory) with unpaid labor in excess of the plan and through voluntary contributions. When formed (February), the formation was called the Special Ural Volunteer Tank Corps named after I.V. Stalin, from March 11 - the 30th Ural Volunteer Tank Corps. Thus, on March 11, 2013, the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps turned 70 years old. In connection with this, a holiday was established.
The Ural Tank Corps is known for the fact that 3,356 Finnish knives (“black knives”) were specially produced for it in Zlatoust. The tankers received HP-40 knives - “Army knife of the 1940 model.” The knives differed in appearance from the standard ones: their handles were made of black ebonite, and the metal on the sheath was blued. Similar knives were previously part of the equipment of paratroopers and reconnaissance officers; in some units they were awarded only for special merits. These short blades with black handles, which were in service with our tank crews, became legendary and inspired fear and respect in our enemies. “Schwarzmesser Panzer-Division”, which translates as “Tank Division of Black Knives” - this is what German intelligence called the Ural Corps on the Kursk Bulge in the summer of 1943.
The Ural tank crews took the nickname given to them by the Nazis with pride. In 1943, Ivan Ovchinin, who later died in the battles for the liberation of Hungary, wrote a song that became the unofficial anthem of the Black Knife Division. It also contained these lines:
The fascists whisper to each other in fear,
Hiding in the darkness of the dugouts:
Tankers appeared from the Urals -
Black Knife Division.
Squads of selfless fighters,
Nothing can kill their courage.
Oh, they don’t like fascist bastards
Our Ural steel black knife!
T-34-85 tank of the 29th Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade of the 10th Guards Ural Volunteer Tank Corps on Prague Square
From the history of the corps
The Ural Volunteer Tank Corps is the only tank formation in the world created entirely with funds voluntarily collected by residents of three regions: Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk and Molotov. The state did not spend a single ruble on arming and equipping this corps. All combat vehicles were built by Ural workers overtime, after the end of the main working day.
The idea of making a gift to the front - creating a Ural tank corps - was born in 1942. It arose in the factory teams of the Ural tank builders and was picked up by the entire working class of the Urals in the days when our country was under the impression of the decisive and victorious Battle of Stalingrad. The Urals, who at that time produced the bulk of tanks and self-propelled guns, were rightfully proud of the victory on the Volga, where the armored forces showed the irresistible striking force of the Red Army. It became clear to everyone: the success of the upcoming battles and the final victory over Nazi Germany largely depend on the number of our magnificent combat vehicles, combined into large tank formations. The workers of the stronghold of the Soviet state decided to give the front-line soldiers another unique gift - a volunteer tank corps.
On January 16, 1943, the newspaper “Ural Worker” published the article “Tank Corps Beyond Plan.” It spoke of the obligation of the largest teams of tank builders in the Urals to produce in the first quarter, in excess of the plan, as many tanks and self-propelled guns as required per corps, while at the same time training vehicle drivers from their own volunteer workers. The slogan was born on the factory floors: “Let’s make above-plan tanks and self-propelled guns and take them into battle.” The party committees of three regions sent a letter to Stalin, in which they stated: “... Expressing the noble patriotic desire of the Urals people, we ask that we be allowed to form a special volunteer Ural Tank Corps... We undertake the obligation to select selflessly loyal to the Motherland into the Ural Tank Corps the best people Ural - communists, Komsomol members, non-party Bolsheviks. We undertake to fully equip the Volunteer Tank Corps of the Urals with the best military equipment: tanks, planes, guns, mortars, ammunition - produced in excess of the production program.” Joseph Stalin approved the idea, and work began to boil.
Everyone responded to the cry raised by Uralmash tank builders, who contributed part of their salaries to the construction of tanks. Schoolchildren collected scrap metal to send it to furnaces for melting down. Ural families, who themselves lacked funds, gave away their last savings. As a result, residents of the Sverdlovsk region alone managed to collect 58 million rubles. Not only were combat vehicles built with people's money, but also the necessary weapons, uniforms, and literally everything were purchased from the state. In January 1943, a recruitment of volunteers for the Ural Corps was announced. By March, over 110 thousand applications had been submitted - 12 times more than needed.
Volunteers represented the best part collectives of workers, among them there were many skilled workers, specialists, production managers, communists and Komsomol members. It is clear that it was impossible to send all the volunteers to the front, since this would damage production and the entire country. Therefore, they made a tough selection. Party committees, factory committees, and special commissions often selected one of 15-20 worthy candidates with the condition that the staff recommend who would replace the one leaving for the front. Selected candidates were reviewed and approved at work meetings. Only 9,660 people were able to go to the front. In total, 536 of them had combat experience, the rest took up arms for the first time.
On the territory of the Sverdlovsk region the following were formed: corps headquarters, 197th tank brigade, 88th separate reconnaissance motorcycle battalion, 565th medical platoon, 1621st self-propelled artillery regiment, 248th rocket mortar division ("Katyusha" ), the 390th communications battalion, as well as units of the 30th motorized rifle brigade (brigade command, one motorized rifle battalion, reconnaissance company, control company, mortar platoon, medical platoon). On the territory of the Molotov (Perm) region the following were formed: the 243rd tank brigade, the 299th mortar regiment, the 3rd battalion of the 30th motorized rifle brigade, the 267th repair base. IN Chelyabinsk region The following were formed: the 244th tank brigade, the 266th repair base, the 743rd engineer battalion, the 64th separate armored battalion, the 36th fuel and lubricants delivery company, an engineering mortar company, a motor transport company and units of the 30th motorized rifle brigade (2 1st motorized rifle battalion, anti-tank rifle company, motor transport company and brigade technical support company).
Thus, the 30th Tank Corps was formed in a surprisingly short time. By order of the People's Commissar of Defense of March 11, 1943, it was given the name - 30th Ural Volunteer Tank Corps.
The first commander of the corps was Georgy Semenovich Rodin (1897-1976). Georgy Rodin had extensive combat experience: he began serving in the Russian Imperial Army in 1916, rose to the rank of senior non-commissioned officer, and then joined the ranks of the Red Army. He began his service as a platoon commander and fought with whites and bandits. After Civil War served as a platoon commander, assistant company commander, deputy battalion commander, and battalion commander. Since 1930, he served as assistant commander and commander of the 234th Infantry Regiment, and since December 1933, as commander of a separate tank battalion and head of the armored service of the 25th Infantry Division. In 1934, he completed academic courses for technical improvement of the command staff of the Red Army, and in 1936, for the excellent combat training of the unit, he was awarded the Order of the Red Star. He took part in the campaign in Western Belarus and fought with the Finns.
Before the start of the Great Patriotic War, he commanded the 47th Tank Division (18th Mechanized Corps, Odessa Military District). The division under the command of Rodin covered the retreat of the 18th and 12th armies of the Southern Front; during the fighting in the area of the city of Gaysin, the division was surrounded, during the exit from which it inflicted significant damage on the enemy. During the fighting for Poltava, Rodin was seriously wounded. In March 1942, he was appointed commander of the 52nd tank brigade, and in June - to the post of commander of the 28th Tank Corps, which at the end of July took part in a frontal counterattack against the enemy who had broken through to the Don north of the city of Kalach-on-Don. In October, he was appointed head of the Automotive Armored Troops of the Southwestern Front, and in April 1943, he was appointed commander of the 30th Ural Volunteer Tank Corps.
The commander of the 30th Ural Volunteer Tank Corps, Lieutenant General of Tank Forces Georgy Semenovich Rodin (1897-1976), awards Guard Junior Sergeant Pavlin Ivanovich Kozhin (1905-1973) with the medal “For Military Merit”
Since the spring of 1944, the corps was commanded by Evtikhiy Emelyanovich Belov (1901-1966). He also had extensive combat experience. He began serving in the Red Army in 1920. He served as a squad commander, platoon commander, assistant company commander, rifle battalion commander, and tank battalion commander. In 1932 he completed armored tank advanced training courses for command personnel, and in 1934 - in absentia Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze. Before the start of the war, he was the commander of the 14th Tank Regiment (17th Tank Division, 6th Mechanized Corps, Western Special Military District).
After the start of the Great War, he took part in the border battle, participated in the counterattack in the Bialystok-Grodno direction, and then in defensive battles in the Grodno, Lida and Novogrudok regions. In September 1941, Evtikhiy Belov was appointed commander of the 23rd Tank Brigade (49th Army, Western Front). In July 1942, he was appointed to the post of deputy commander of tank forces of the 20th Army (Western Front), while there he took part in the Rzhev-Sychevsk offensive operation, and then in the defense of the army of the Rzhev-Vyazma defensive line. In January 1943, he was appointed deputy commander of the 3rd Tank Army. In May 1943, he was appointed to the post of deputy commander of the 57th Army, in July - to the post of deputy commander of the 4th Tank Army, and in March 1944 - to the post of commander of the 10th Guards Ural Volunteer Tank Corps.
Medium tanks T-34, manufactured above plan for the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps. The stamped turret for the tank in the photo was produced at the Ordzhonikidze Ural Heavy Engineering Plant (UZTM) in Sverdlovsk
An echelon of the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps heading to the front. On the platforms there are T-34-76 tanks and SU-122 self-propelled guns
On May 1, 1943, the soldiers of the corps took the oath, vowed to return home only with Victory, and soon received orders to go to the front. The Ural Corps became part of the 4th Tank Army and on July 27 received a baptism of fire on the Kursk Bulge, north of the city of Orel. In battles, Soviet tank crews showed incredible stamina and unparalleled courage. The unit was awarded the honorary title of Guards Corps. By order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR No. 306 of October 26, 1943, it was transformed into the 10th Guards Ural Volunteer Tank Corps. All units of the corps were given the name Guards. On November 18, 1943, units and formations of the corps were solemnly awarded the Guards Banners.
The corps' combat route from Orel to Prague was over 5,500 kilometers. The Ural Volunteer Tank Corps participated in the Oryol, Bryansk, Proskurov-Chernivtsi, Lvov-Sandomierz, Sandomierz-Silesian, Lower Silesian, Upper Silesian, Berlin and Prague offensive operations. In 1944, the corps was awarded the honorary title “Lvov”. The corps distinguished itself during the crossing of the Neisse and Spree rivers, the destruction of the enemy's Kotbu grouping and in the fighting for Potsdam and Berlin, and on May 9, 1945, it was the first to enter Prague. The corps was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, Suvorov II degree, Kutuzov II degree. In total, there are 54 orders on the battle banners of the units that were part of the 10th Guards Ural-Lvov, Red Banner, Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov Volunteer Tank Corps.
A group of Soviet T-34 medium tanks from the 10th Guards Ural Volunteer Tank Corps follows along a street in Lvov
12 corps guards proved themselves to be outstanding masters of tank combat, destroying 20 or more enemy combat vehicles. The Guard of Lieutenant M. Kuchenkov has 32 armored units, the Guard of Captain N. Dyachenko has 31, the Guard of Sergeant Major N. Novitsky has 29, the Guard of Junior Lieutenant M. Razumovsky has 25, the Guard of Lieutenant D. Maneshin has 24, Guard Captain V. Markov and Guard Senior Sergeant V. Kupriyanov - 23 each, Guard Sergeant S. Shopov and Guard Lieutenant N. Bulitsky - 21 each, Guard Sergeant M. Pimenov, Guard Lieutenant V. Mocheny and Guard Sergeant V. Tkachenko - 20 armored units each.
During the Prague operation, the crew of the T-34 tank No. 24 of the 63rd Guards Chelyabinsk Tank Brigade under the command of Guard Lieutenant Ivan Goncharenko became famous. At the beginning of May 1945, during the campaign against Prague, I. G. Goncharenko’s tank was included in the lead marching column and was among first three reconnaissance tanks of the guard junior lieutenant L. E. Burakov. After three days of forced march, on the night of May 9, 1945, the advanced units of the corps approached Prague from the northwest. From memory former commander 63rd Guards Tank Brigade of M. G. Fomichev, the local population greeted the Soviet tankers with jubilation, with national and red flags and banners “At Zhiye Ore Armada! Long live the Red Army!
On the night of May 9, a reconnaissance platoon of three tanks, Burakov, Goncharenko and Kotov, with scouts and sappers on armor, was the first to enter Prague and found out that Czech rebels were fighting the Germans in the city center. An assault group was formed in Prague - the tank of the company commander Latnik was added to the reconnaissance platoon. The assault group under the command of Latnik was given the task of capturing the Manesov Bridge and ensuring the exit of the main forces of the tank brigade to the city center. On the approaches to Prague Castle, the enemy put up strong resistance: at the Charles and Manesov bridges over the Vltava River, the Nazis set up a barrier of several assault guns under the cover of a large number of faustians. Ivan Goncharenko’s tank was the first to reach the Vltava River. During the ensuing battle, Goncharenko’s crew destroyed two enemy self-propelled guns and began to break through the Manesov Bridge, but the Germans managed to knock out the T-34. From the award sheet: “While holding the crossing, Comrade Goncharenko destroyed 2 self-propelled guns with the fire of his tank. The tank was hit by a shell and caught fire. T. Goncharenko was seriously wounded. Being seriously wounded, the brave officer, bleeding, continued to fight. Comrade Goncharenko was killed by a second hit in the tank. At this time, the main forces arrived and began a rapid pursuit of the enemy.” Goncharenko was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree. Crew members I. G. Goncharenko - A. I. Filippov, I. G. Shklovsky, N. S. Kovrigin and P. G. Batyrev - were seriously wounded in battle on May 9, 1945, but survived. The remaining tanks of the assault group, having broken the resistance of the German troops, captured the Manesov Bridge, preventing the enemy from blowing up the bridge. And then we walked along it to the center of Prague. On the afternoon of May 9, the capital of Czechoslovakia was liberated from German troops.
Guard lieutenant, tanker Ivan Grigorievich Goncharenko
In honor of the tank, as the first to come to the aid of the rebel Prague, a monument with an IS-2 tank was erected in the capital of Czechoslovakia. The monument to Soviet tank crews in Prague on Stefanik Square stood until the “Velvet Revolution” in 1991, when it was repainted pink, then dismantled from its pedestal and is now used as a “symbol of the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Soviet troops.” Thus, in the Czech Republic, as throughout Europe, the memory of the Soviet soldier-liberator was basically destroyed, and the black myth of the “Soviet occupation” was transformed by the enemies of Russian civilization.
Soviet IS-2 tank, in service from 1948 to 1991. in Prague as a monument to the T-34 tank I. G. Goncharenko
In total, on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, Ural tank crews destroyed and captured 1,220 enemy tanks and self-propelled guns, 1,100 guns of various calibers, 2,100 armored vehicles and armored personnel carriers, and destroyed 94,620 enemy soldiers and officers. In total, during the war, 42,368 orders and medals were awarded to the soldiers of the corps, 27 soldiers and sergeants became full holders of the Order of Glory, 38 guardsmen of the corps were awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union.
After the end of the Great Patriotic War, the corps was transformed into the 10th Guards Tank Division. The division is part of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSVG, ZGV). It is part of the 3rd Combined Arms Red Banner Army. After the withdrawal of troops from Germany in 1994, the division was redeployed to the Voronezh region, namely the city of Boguchar (Moscow Military District). In 2001, the division took part in hostilities in the North Caucasus. In 2009, the division was disbanded and the 262nd Guards base for storing weapons and equipment (tank) was formed on its base. In 2015, on the basis of the storage base, the 1st separate tank brigade was formed, with the transfer of the honorary title of the 10th Guards Tank Division to it. This is the glorious path of the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps.
Soldiers of the 63rd Guards Chelyabinsk Tank Brigade on Wenceslas Square in Prague
Presentation of the Order from the workers of the Southern Urals to representatives of the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps
An article by G.I. was published in the “Calendar-Reference Book of the Perm Region” for 1963. Vlasov, assistant at Perm University
"Ural Volunteer Tank Corps
On the 20th anniversary of his birth
The year was 1943. The heroic efforts of the Soviet people at the front and in the rear changed the course of the Great Patriotic War and the entire Second World War. The strategic initiative was wrested from the hands of the Nazi invaders and never returned to them.
An integral part continuously growing military power The Soviet Union was the creation of a volunteer tank corps in the Urals in the spring of 1943. The idea of its creation came from the workers themselves. It arose in the process of labor heroism aimed at the comprehensive increase in military production.
In January 1943, a massive patriotic movement of workers began at the industrial enterprises of the Urals for the production of above-plan products to equip entire formations Soviet army.
The teams of the Ural factories committed themselves in the first quarter of 1943 to produce products beyond the plan to equip a large combat unit - a tank corps. During this competition, a patriotic idea appeared: not only to provide above-plan production, but also to create a special Ural Volunteer Tank Corps with our own forces and resources.
In February, the Perm, Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regional party committees, on behalf of all the workers of the Urals, applied to the Central Committee of the Party for permission to create a tank corps from volunteers. The Urals promised to send the best people to it, raise funds for its formation, and supply it with everything necessary due to above-plan production.
The Central Committee of the Party and the State Defense Committee approved the proposal of the Urals, highly appreciating their wonderful patriotic movement. On February 26, 1943, there was a directive from the commander of the Ural Military District on the formation of the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps. This day is considered the official beginning of the formation of the corps.
The days of intense, dedicated work began. Enterprises established contact with the corps command, from which they received combat missions. Only at the factories of the city of Perm 443 combat missions were awarded.
The exceptional patriotism of the Urals is evidenced by the fact that there were ten times more volunteers in the corps than required. For example, in just three days, the Kizelovsky city party committee alone received 1,263 applications from those wishing to join the volunteer corps.
Mass patriotism, initiative and labor heroism of the working people, selfless work of party organizations ensured the formation of the corps in a short time. On March 11, 1943, the corps and its emerging formations and units were assigned numbers and names. The corps received the name: Ural Volunteer Tank Corps. Tank brigades were named after Ural regions: Perm, Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk. March 11 became the day of the formation of the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps.
The workers of the Urals provided the corps with first-class equipment, the basis of which was the best in the world, during the entire period of the Second World War, the Soviet T-34 medium tanks. In addition, the corps included artillery, mortars, various types small arms and in general was a formidable formation of the Soviet Army.
The Urals created a tank corps at their own expense, from above-plan production. Subsequently, they replenished it with both people and military equipment, and took care of the volunteers and their families. This was the source of the corps' strength in all battles, an inexhaustible source called people's love.
The Ural Volunteer Tank Corps received its baptism of fire in the Oryol direction with the famous Battle of Kursk- one of the greatest battles of the Second World War.
With many glorious military deeds, the Ural volunteer tank crews earned high praise from their Motherland. Only for exploits in battles in July-August 1943, 1,579 soldiers, sergeants and officers of the corps were awarded orders and medals of the Soviet Union, and in total in 1943, 1,964 military awards were given to corps personnel. The corps passed the combat test with honor and after the first battles received the honorary title of guards.
Ural guards tankmen took an active part in the liberation of the Right Bank and Western Ukraine(cities of Kamenets-Podolsk, Lvov, etc.), the peoples of Poland and Czechoslovakia from the Nazi invaders, in the final defeat of Nazi Germany.
Leading fighting in important directions as part of strike groups, Ural tankers often went ahead of powerful tank wedges: in the Lvov-Sandomierz, Vistula-Oder, Berlin and other operations.
Like the entire Soviet Army, the Guards Ural Volunteer Tank Corps increased the pace of its offensive with each operation. He completed the fighting in the Great Patriotic War with a brilliant march from Berlin to Prague. Rushing to help the rebel residents of the capital of Czechoslovakia, formations and corps units fought up to 100 kilometers a day.
The Soviet government highly appreciated the military merits of the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps. In addition to conferring the guards rank on him, he received the name "Lvovsky" and was awarded three military orders: the Red Banner, Suvorov and Kutuzov 2nd degree. The formations and units of the corps bear the names of seven liberated and captured cities: Unecha, Ternopil, Lvov, Kielce, Petrokov (Petrkuv), Berlin, Prague. The corps as a whole, its brigades, regiments and individual battalions received over 50 military orders of the Soviet Union and dozens of commendations from the Supreme High Command. The Perm Guards Tank Brigade received the name "Keletskaya" and was awarded the Orders of the Red Banner, Suvorov, Kutuzov 2nd degree and Bogdan Khmelnitsky.
Privates, sergeants and officers of the corps received 42,956 orders and medals of the Soviet Union for heroism, courage and courage. (This figure does not include medals for the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War, as well as Polish and Czechoslovak orders and medals awarded to Ural volunteers).
Many soldiers of the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps for the heroism and courage shown in battles with German fascist invaders, awarded high rank Hero of the Soviet Union. Among those awarded this title are six officers and soldiers of the Perm Tank Brigade: N.A. Bredikhin - tank driver, guard foreman; A.V. Erofeev - commander of a platoon of machine gunners, guard lieutenant; G.Z. Klishin - tank driver, guard foreman; N.A. Kozlov - commander of a tank platoon, guard junior lieutenant; I.A. Kondaurov - tank driver, guard senior sergeant; AND I. Nikonov - commander of an armored personnel carrier squad (reconnaissance officer), guard sergeant major.
After the end of the Great Patriotic War, many volunteers returned to their homes and, like guards, work on the front of peaceful labor.
But not everyone managed to live to see Victory Day, in the name of which they fought. Soviet people and their friends abroad sacredly honor the memory of the fallen heroes. Monuments to Ural tank crews stand in the Oryol region, in the cities of Kamenets-Podolsk and Lvov, Berlin and Prague."
On March 11, 1963, a monument to the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps was unveiled in Perm (sculptor P.F. Shardakov, architects A.P. Zagorodnikov and O.N. Shorina).
The tank drove onto the pedestal under its own power.
The idea of creating a tank corps arose in the Urals during the days of the completion of the defeat of Nazi troops at Stalingrad. In the newspaper "Ural Worker" January 16, 1943. a note “Tank Corps Beyond Plan” was published, which talked about the initiative of tank building teams: to produce in the first quarter of 1943. in excess of the plan, as many tanks and self-propelled guns as necessary to equip the tank corps; at the same time train combat vehicle drivers from among their own volunteer workers. A letter was sent to the Chairman of the State Defense Committee in which the Ural workers asked permission to form a special volunteer Ural Tank Corps named after Comrade Stalin. February 24, 1943 A telegram in response came from Moscow: “We approve and welcome your proposal to form a special volunteer Ural Tank Corps. I. Stalin." February 26, 1943 Commander of the Ural Military District, Major General A.V. Katkov issued a directive on the formation of UDTK. 110 thousand applications were submitted voluntarily, which was 12 times more than was required to complete the corps, and 9,660 people were selected. At the same time, voluntary fundraising for the fund for the creation of the corps continued throughout the Urals; over 70 million rubles were collected. This money was used to buy military equipment, weapons and uniforms from the state. Based on local conditions and resources of the regions, formations and corps units were formed in Sverdlovsk, Molotov, Chelyabinsk, Nizhny Tagil, Alapaevsk, Degtyarsk, Troitsk, Miass, Zlatoust, Kus and Kyshtym. On July 17, 1943 the material part of the hull was:
tanks T-34 - 202, T-70 - 7;
BA-64 armored vehicles – 68;
self-propelled 122-mm guns – 16;
85 mm guns – 12;
M-13 installations – 8;
76 mm guns – 24;
45 mm guns – 32;
37 mm guns – 16;
120 mm mortars – 42;
82 mm mortars - 52.
The Zlatoust gunsmiths made a unique gift to the tank crews: for each volunteer at the tool factory in Zlatoust, a steel knife was made, which received the unofficial name “black knife” (for these knives the UDTK received the name “Schwarzmesser Panzer-Division” from the enemy (German - “ tank division of black knives").
By order of the People's Commissar of Defense of March 11, 1943. The corps was given the name - 30th Ural Volunteer Tank Corps. Since then, March 11 has been considered the birthday of UDTK. March 18, 1943 Lieutenant General of Tank Forces Georgy Semenovich Rodin was appointed to command the corps. May 9, 1943 at the Sverdlovsk Opera and Ballet Theater, the labor Ural encouraged the volunteers of the corps units and formations formed in Sverdlovsk to battle with the enemy, and handed the corps his order: “Our dear sons and brothers, fathers and husbands!.. Seeing you off to the battle with our fierce enemy Homeland, we want to admonish you with our instructions. Accept it as a battle banner and carry it with honor through the fire of harsh battles, as the will of the people of your native Urals... We equipped a volunteer tank corps with our own funds, with our own hands we lovingly and carefully forged weapons for you. We worked on it day and night. In this weapon are our cherished and ardent thoughts about the bright hour of our complete victory, in it is our will, as firm as the Ural stone: to crush and exterminate the fascist beast. Carry this will of ours with you into hot battles. Remember our order. It contains our parental love and a stern order, marital parting words and our oath... We are waiting for you with victory!” The volunteers vowed to fulfill the order of the Urals people.
June 10, 1943 The corps arrived in the Moscow region, where on June 25 it became part of the troops of the 4th Tank Army of Lieutenant General of Tank Forces Vasily Mikhailovich Badanov. The soldiers of the 4th Tank Army received their baptism of fire north of the city of Orel in the summer of 1943, in the battle of the Kursk Bulge. The army arrived at the Bryansk Front on the eve of the outbreak of war on July 5, 1943. battles and during the counter-offensive of Soviet troops it was brought into battle in the Oryol direction. The first fireworks show in Moscow on August 5, 1943. - to the valiant troops who liberated Orel and Belgorod - was also in honor of the Ural volunteers. The Urals fought desperately, with unparalleled courage, incredible resilience, and it was not without reason that already three months after the start of the fighting, on November 18, 1943. The tank corps became a guards corps.
The UDTK's combat route was over 5,500 km, of which 2,000 km included combat, from Orel to Prague. The Ural Volunteer Tank Corps participated in the Oryol, Bryansk, Proskurov-Chernivtsi, Lviv-Sandomierz, Sandomierz-Silesian, Lower Silesian, Upper Silesian, Berlin and Prague offensive operations.
The Ural volunteers ended the war on May 9, 1945. in Prague. At 4 o'clock the main forces of the corps entered the city, and soon other formations of the 4th Tank Army. From the northwest and north, formations of the 3rd Guards Tank Army entered Prague in the morning, and formations of the 13th and 3rd Guards Armies in the afternoon. The first to rush into Prague was the crew of the T-34 tank of the Chelyabinsk tank brigade under the command of Lieutenant I.G. Goncharenko from the platoon of Lieutenant L.E. Burakova.
During two years of participation in the Great Patriotic War, the tank corps liberated hundreds of cities and thousands settlements. The Ural tank crews inflicted terrible damage on the enemy: 1,110 enemy tanks and self-propelled guns, and a huge amount of other enemy military equipment were captured and destroyed, 94,620 enemy soldiers and officers were destroyed. Many tank guardsmen showed themselves to be real masters of tank combat, for example, M. Kuchenkov had 32 fascist tanks, N. Novitsky - 29, N. Dyachenko - 31, M. Razumovsky - 25.
For skillful military operations, heroism, courage and bravery of the Ural volunteers, Supreme Commander-in-Chief I.V. Stalin expressed gratitude to the corps and units 27 times. The corps was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of Suvorov, II degree, and the Order of Kutuzov, II degree. During the Great Patriotic War, 42,368 orders and medals were awarded to the soldiers of the corps, 27 soldiers and sergeants became full holders of the Order of Glory, 38 guardsmen of the corps were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and Colonel M.G. Fomichev was awarded this high title twice.
Since 1945 Units of the division began scheduled combat training as part of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSVG), and carried out combat missions to support the activities of the Government of the GDR. Throughout its entire time on German soil, the division was considered one of the best tank formations of the GSVG.
In 1994 According to the decision of the Government of the Russian Federation, the 10th Guards Tank Division left the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany and was redeployed to the city of Boguchar, Voronezh Region and became part of the Moscow Military District. Since December 2009 The division moved to a new staff and became a storage base for armored vehicles. The Council of Veterans of the UDTK appealed to the command and personnel of the division with a request to transfer the exhibits of the museum of military glory of the 10th Guards. tank division in Yekaterinburg. This difficult decision took place at a general meeting of representatives of military units on July 24, 2009.
Materials taken from the website of the Airborne Forces Museum "Winged Guard" -
February 18, 1943 from the Urals to Moscow in State Committee Defense and Stalin personally, a letter was sent. In it, the first secretaries of the Sverdlovsk, Molotov and Chelyabinsk regional committees V. M. Andrianov, N. I. Gusarov and N. S. Patolichev asked permission to form a volunteer tank corps.
Whose initiative?
“It is generally accepted that this initiative was born at one of the Ural factories that built tanks,” says Evgeny Evstigneev, chief archivist of the United State Archives of the Chelyabinsk Region. “And the leaders of the three regions supported this idea.”
But the documents tell a different story: none of the leaders of the Ural regions could voluntarily shoulder an unbearable burden. They knew the situation on the ground too well and saw that people were working to the limit.
Therefore, most likely, the initiative was born in Moscow, at the very top, and was dictated by the situation at the fronts. The Urals, as the main tank manufacturers, were asked to voice this initiative. This is how this letter to Stalin appeared, because it was impossible to refuse such offers.
And on February 24, the leaders of three Ural regional committees received telegrams from Moscow: “Your proposal to form a special Ural tank volunteer corps is approved and welcomed. An order has been given to the Main Armored Directorate to assist you in selecting command personnel. Stalin."
On the same day, the military council of the Ural Military District issued a decree according to which one tank brigade, as well as auxiliary units (motorized rifle battalion, mortar regiment, etc.) should be formed in each of the three regions. Within two months, Chelyabinsk residents must produce 74 tanks (not counting artillery and small arms), recruit and train about 3 thousand soldiers in a month. All this had to be done above plan.
Between two fires
According to the selection requirements, the corps fighters had to be “physically strong, selflessly devoted to the Motherland, those liable for military service from 18 to 35 years old.” The people's patriotic impulse was so great that in ten days, from March 1 to March 10, 49.5 thousand applications for enrollment in the corps were submitted.
But by the appointed time the required number was not recruited; there were almost 800 people missing. What is the reason? The answer is contained in a certificate from the military department instructor Kosarev: “Some managers of military factories directly sabotage the dispatch of volunteers. For example, the director of the Kirov plant in Chelyabinsk forbade volunteers to appear in the district committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks).”
The director of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, Grigory Nosov, categorically forbade taking people away. The management of the South Ukrainian Railway, the regional police and the NKVD gave strict instructions on the ground so that people would not be released into the tank corps.
“Factory directors can be understood,” says Galina Kibitkina, chief archaeographer of OGACHO. - They found themselves between two fires. On the one hand, people want to go to war, and on the other, in production any healthy man is worth his weight in gold. If everyone leaves, who will carry out the plan? Who will produce the products that the front needs?”
More than a million signatures
Nevertheless, by March 15, the corps personnel were mostly completed. During the war, there were dachas of the regional committee and several Chelyabinsk factories on Lake Smolino; in March 1943, units of a tank brigade were located in the dacha buildings. The volunteers began training in harsh conditions: the wooden buildings were not heated, and it was impossible to prepare hot food.
As documents show, problems with living conditions, food, and fuel were common to all parts of the corps. For example, not far from Troitsk, in the same summer houses, a sapper battalion was located, commanded by Captain Lukyanov. In his report, he writes: “There is no firewood in the city, no coal either, the material support for training is poor: there is not a single rifle, there is nothing with which to protect the unit.”
The corps included people who came from poor villages. We read in Lukyanov’s report: “The situation with shoes is bad, because of this 63 people cannot go to training, the situation with underwear is bad, only 33 people have a change of underwear,” that is, 270 out of 300 people arrived in the battalion with only those clothes which they were wearing.
The whole world gathered volunteers to the front: people brought food, warm clothes, towels, socks, foot wraps. On May 9, 1943, a historic meeting took place on the square in front of the Chelyabinsk main post office, at which the second secretary of the regional committee, Leonid Baranov, read the legendary order to the soldiers of the special Ural Volunteer Tank Corps from the working people of the Southern Urals.
The author of the text of the order was the Trinity writer Anatoly Klimov. In his house-museum, drafts of the order, written in pencil, have been preserved. After the text was approved by the regional committee, a large number of printed copies were made. These copies were sent to cities and districts, and the text of the order was signed by 1 million 257 thousand people - almost the entire adult population of the region.
Where is the Order?
The fate of the main copy of the order, which “went” to the front along with the 63rd Tank Brigade, is surprising.
“We didn’t find it in our funds,” says Galina Kibitkina. - We sent requests to Moscow, to the State historical Museum and museum modern history Russia. The staff of the Museum of Contemporary History replied that they had the order.
“We were already desperate, but a happy accident helped us,” says Kibitkina. - In the fall of 2013 at scientific conference in Nizhny Tagil I met the Yekaterinburg director Alexander Turchaninov. And he said that the order was in Yekaterinburg, in the council of veterans of the Ural Volunteer Corps.”
It turns out that the document was kept in the museum of the 10th Red Guard Tank Division (formed after the war on the basis of the Ural Tank Corps), and after its disbandment in 2009, the order was transferred to the administration of the Ural Military District, from there it went to the veterans council.
“We saw this document in the exhibition of the Ekaterinburg Museum “Winged Guard,” says Galina Kibitkina. - He looks like a real veteran: soaked in smoke, soot, smells of machine oil... The original order is priceless historical document, especially significant for our region. Its text was written by a South Ural writer, it was signed by more than a million South Ural residents; it was this copy that was presented to the soldiers of the 63rd Chelyabinsk Brigade at the historic rally on May 9, 1943. It would probably be fair if the document returned to its homeland, Chelyabinsk.”
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Creative work - abstract, completed in honor of the 70th anniversary of the creation of the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps(UTDK), in within the framework of the regional creative competition “Combat Corps”. The research received a positive assessment from the competition experts and made it to the finals of the competition. The open defense will take place on March 26 in Yekaterinburg.
Practical result - booklet "Black Knives Division"
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Municipal educational institution
"Secondary school No. 2"
For the regional creative competition
essays and abstracts “Combat Corps”
Ural Volunteer Tank Corps -
gift to the front
(abstract)
Supervisor: Chernyaeva Lidiya Dmitrievna
Kachkanarsky urban district, 2013.
INTRODUCTION 3
1. The Ural region is the largest industrial evacuation point 5
1.1. Industrial enterprises 5
1.2. State raw material base 8
1.3. Unity of front and rear 10
2. Ural Volunteer Tank Corps - a gift to the front 14
2.1.Formation of the body 14
2.2.Combat story 18
2.3.After the war 21
CONCLUSION 23
References 25
Internet resources 25
Applications
INTRODUCTION
Ural! Testament of centuries and together -
A harbinger of times to come
And into our souls, like a song,
He comes in with a mighty bass voice -
Ural! The supporting edge of the state,
Her breadwinner and blacksmith,
The same age as our ancient glory
And the glory of the present creator!
Alexander Tvardovsky, in the poem “Beyond the Distance,” with his poetic will ratified the key role of the Ural region in the life of Russia: “The Ural is the supporting region of the state.” This expression became the brand of the Sverdlovsk region - the country's rear shield during the Great Patriotic War, and was officially placed on the region's coat of arms.
Undoubtedly the phrase “The Urals is the stronghold of the state” is the most concise and accurate description of our region. Behind the words “supporting edge” are not only tanks and missiles, but also citizens of their country who have rich intellectual and creative potential. In order for this characteristic, indisputable and understandable to the older generation of contemporaries, not to lose its obviousness and significance in the perception of my generation, it is necessary to realize that the future of the Urals is created by us and the revival depends on us.
The Urals sent their best sons and daughters to this formation.
In 2013, the Sverdlovsk region celebrates the 70th anniversary of the national feat of forming the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps (UTDK) during the Great Patriotic War.
In this regard, Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region E.V. Kuyvashev signed decree No. 157 - UG dated July 27, 2012 and announced a significant date - March 11, “Day of National Feat for the formation of the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps,” which will be celebrated annually by the Sverdlovsk region .
Despite this, the Chairman of the UTDK Veterans Council V.K. Khorkov notes: “Unfortunately, today young people know little about this period national history. But our grandfathers and great-grandfathers purchased everything at their own expense to create the body - from buttons to T-34 tanks. During the Great Patriotic War, UDTK soldiers were awarded more than 40 thousand orders and medals, 27 soldiers and sergeants became full holders of the Order of Glory, 38 guardsmen of the corps were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union." .
In connection with this contradiction, the purpose of this study is to study the history of the creation of the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps. In accordance with it, the following tasks are set:
Study historical sources on the research topic;
Determine the conditions that contributed to the creation of the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps;
Show the significance of the feat of the Urals during the Great Patriotic War.
1. The Ural region is the largest industrial evacuation point
In the first chapter we will look at what changes have occurred inindustry of the Urals during the Great Patriotic War. How these changes affected the development of the Ural region. What conditions contributed to the creation of the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps
1.1. Industrial enterprises
A severe disaster at the front in the summer - autumn of 1941 forced us to reconsider the role of the Urals in the military economic system of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). On June 27, 1941, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR adopted a joint resolution "On the procedure for the removal and placement of human contingents and valuable property" .
In the shortest possible time, the Ural region was turned into the most powerful center of defense production. The Stalinist state was the owner of all the material and labor resources of the Soviet Union, so it was able to quickly concentrate the necessary productive forces here. Of the 1,523 factories evacuated to the East from the European part of the USSR in July - November 1941, more than 600 arrived in the Urals. In 1942, another 130 enterprises were evacuated here. The population of the region grew by 1.4 million people.
For example, the number of residents of the largest cities of the Middle Urals, Sverdlovsk and Nizhny Tagil during the war years increased respectively from 423 thousand people to 620 thousand; from 160.0 to 239.0 thousand.
The largest tank production in the USSR and in the world was established in the Urals, concentrated in Chelyabinsk, Nizhny Tagil and Sverdlovsk.
The Kirov plant, which arrived in Chelyabinsk from Leningrad, absorbed ChTZ and the evacuated Kharkov diesel engine plant, and received equipment and personnel from a number of other enterprises. Nicknamed "Tankograd", the giant plant produced 2,553 heavy KB tanks in 1942 - 100% of their all-Union production and almost twice as many as the entire USSR produced in 1941. In the first quarter of 1943, Chelyabinsk residents mastered the production of the KV-85, with the same armor, but with a more powerful gun and a higher speed of movement. From the fourth quarter of the same year, Tankograd began producing heavy tanks of the IS series (Joseph Stalin) with a 122 mm cannon. For 1942-1945 The plant produced 3/4 of the all-Union production of heavy tanks - 8340 units. From August 1942 to March 1944, the Kirov team also produced 5,677 T-34 medium tanks.
But the main manufacturer of the best medium tanks of the Second World War was the Ural Tank Plant (UTZ) in Nizhny Tagil. It was formed as a result of the merger of Uralvagonzavod (UVZ) with evacuated factories: Kharkov Tractor Plant, partially Mariupol Armor Plant and Moscow Machine Tool Plant. On December 20, 1941, UTZ sent the first batch of T-34s of 25 vehicles to the front. And in 1942-1945. he produced almost 29 thousand medium tanks. Since 1943, T-34 tanks received more powerful armor and weapons while maintaining the same speed characteristics.
The third giant of armored tank production was Uralmash (UZTM), which was replenished with equipment and personnel from factories evacuated from Leningrad, Bryansk, and Kyiv. From September 1942 to the end of 1943, he produced 731 T-34 and T-34-85 tanks. Only three Ural factories for 1942-1945. produced more than 35 thousand medium tanks - 60% of their all-Union production.
From September 1941 to August 1942, a plant operated in Sverdlovsk, producing light tanks T-60 and T-70. It produced almost 2 thousand of them, then became a branch of UZTM, supplying parts and components for the T-34 and self-propelled guns.
The Urals are the birthplace of Soviet self-propelled artillery. The first 26 self-propelled artillery units (SAU) were manufactured in 1942.
During the evacuation of the Tula and Podolsk arms factories, Izhmash was the only manufacturer of small arms in the USSR. By the end of 1941, it increased the monthly production of rifles and carbines by 4 times compared to 1940. They mastered the production of anti-tank rifles, aircraft guns, and machine guns the latest designs. Production increased annually due to improved technology and improved labor organization. In 1943, the plant completely switched to conveyor assembly. At the same time, labor productivity increased 4 times compared to 1940, and production costs decreased by 1.5-2 times. During the war, Izhmash produced 12.4 million small arms out of 19.8 million produced in the country (more than 60%) and, in addition, 7 thousand aircraft guns.
In 1942-1945. The Urals produced over half of all ammunition.
The production of the Ural aviation industry increased 11 times. Its main enterprises were the Ufa and Molotov engine plants. Their engines were installed on the fighters of Lavochkin and Yakovlev, and the bombers of Petlyakov and Tupolev. The Ural Tank Plant supplied armored hulls for the Il-2 attack aircraft.
In general, the Ural economic region in 1942-1945. gave up to 40% of the country's total military industrial output. The military industry was primarily supplied with machinery, equipment, electricity, fuel, fuel, metal, and those working at its enterprises were supplied with food and industrial goods. The labor used here was mainly that of young and middle-aged male workers who had high qualifications and were exempt from conscription into the army. Low-skilled labor, including women and teenagers, was widely used only in the manufacture of barrel mortars, ammunition and in auxiliary work.
1.2. State of the raw material base
The interests of the comprehensive development of military production required the expansion of the country's raw materials and fuel and energy base, and primarily in the eastern regions, where the main arsenal of the Soviet Union was being created at an accelerated pace.
In this regard, the most difficult tasks faced the metallurgists of the east. They had to not only significantly increase the production of metal, but also significantly change the technology of its production, and in the shortest possible time master the production of new grades of cast iron, steel, and armored rolled products. Other sectors of the Ural industry were much worse provided with material and labor resources. After the enemy captured Ukraine, the Urals became the main supplier of ferrous metallurgy products in the country. It was necessary to expand the extraction of ore and other raw materials, the production of cast iron, steel, rolled products, pipes, and to master the production of new grades of metal without a preparatory period.
Much more iron ore was needed than before. The region's mines were replenished with equipment and personnel from evacuees and thousands of mobilized workers. However, there was a shortage of qualified personnel. Some workers and specialists were drafted into the army. Most of the new workers were unskilled. As a result, many production mechanisms were not used, the share of manual labor and the accident rate increased. The supply and repair of equipment have deteriorated sharply. Under these conditions, all iron mines concentrated their best efforts on mining, reducing stripping and mining operations to the limit. The latter almost led to disaster. During the first war winter, ore production fell sharply. Lacking sufficient reserves of raw materials, ferrous metallurgy plants switched their blast furnaces to quiet operation.
The crisis forced the USSR government to improve supplies to mining enterprises. But the decisive role in easing difficulties, without exaggeration, belongs to the patriotic initiatives of skilled workers, engineers and technicians, who made it possible to mobilize hidden internal reserves. In the mines, a movement of experienced workers developed to fulfill two, three or more production standards in one shift, innovate, save scarce materials, and use their substitutes. Skilled workers trained new recruits on the job. Since February 1942, the raw materials crisis in the ferrous metallurgy began to weaken. Since the spring of 1943, the mines have worked relatively rhythmically, reducing labor costs per unit of production and costs.
In 1942-1944. The Urals provided 9/10 of the iron ore raw materials mined in the USSR. During the war, he increased its supply by 1/3. At the same time, the quality of raw materials has increased significantly. In 1942, 2/3 of it was raw ore, and in subsequent years the share of enriched ore and sinter exceeded 3/4. As a result, more metal was smelted from each ton of raw material than before.
Without manganese, neither cast iron nor steel can be produced. In 1940 The Urals provided only 2.5% of the all-Union production of manganese ore. In 1941 the enemy captured Ukraine, which provided over 1/3 of manganese. It was a long way to bring it to the Urals from Georgia, and from the autumn of 1942 to the spring of 1943. impossible: German troops, reaching the Caucasus Range and Stalingrad, they cut transport routes and then destroyed them during the retreat. But in just a year, a new Polunochny mine was built in the taiga in the north of the Sverdlovsk region, and production at the previously operating ones increased. In 1942, almost 5 times more manganese ore was mined in the Urals than in 1941. If this could not be done, then in the winter months of 1942-1943. The ferrous metallurgy of the region was facing inevitable collapse. In 1943, the Polunochny mine exceeded its design capacity and the threat of stopping the blast furnaces of Nizhny Tagil, Serov, Kushva, Zlatoust and Alapaevsk was completely removed.
Until 1944, the Urals were the main and only region of the USSR where chrome ore was mined - a raw material for the metallurgy of high-quality steels.
For the production of steels, especially alloyed ones, ferroalloys are needed. The Chelyabinsk Ferroalloy Plant doubled its output. The production of ferroalloys was mastered by plants of a full metallurgical cycle: Kushvinsky, Novotagil, Serov and Magnitogorsk plants. They were produced here in large blast furnaces, which was previously considered technically impossible.
On July 23, 1941, metallurgists from Magnitogorsk were the first in the world to melt armor steel in an open-hearth furnace. Soon the Novotagil plant mastered this technology. Magnitogorsk residents have started rolling out armor plates on a regular blooming machine. And after the launch of the Mariupol and Leningrad armored mills in Magnitogorsk and Nizhny Tagil, the Urals began to produce as much of it per month as the entire country produced before the war in six months. The Urals have also mastered the production of projectile, machine gun, helmet, stainless steel, ball bearing, high-speed and other high-quality steels.
Production of high-quality rolled products in the Urals in 1941-1944. tripled. Its share increased from 1/3 to 2/3 on average and up to 100% at the Zlatoust and Serov plants. At the same time, the production of roofing, dynamic, transformer iron, rails, and tin decreased.
By the end of 1941, there were 4 operating pipe factories left in the USSR, 3 of them in the Urals. The evacuated equipment expanded their capacity. Another plant was built - in Chelyabinsk. Pipes were supplied to the military industry, machine builders, oil workers, and construction workers. Pipe factories also produced shell casings, grenades, fuses, clock mechanisms, and springs for submachine guns.
During the war, the production of cast iron in the Urals increased by 88%, steel by 65%, rolled steel by 55%, and steel pipes by 6.4 times. .
1.3. Unity of front and rear
The departure of hundreds of thousands of skilled workers into the army caused a huge shortage of workers at enterprises. Industrial and technical training was intended to correct the situation. During the war years, 459.3 thousand people, or a sixth of the all-Union output of labor reserves, were trained by the schools and schools of the Federal Educational Institution of the Urals.
Competition was an effective means of increasing production levels. Throughout the war, labor collectives of the Urals took first or class (prize) places in the All-Union competition. Only workers of the Perm region received prizes 981 times, including first places 387 times. At the end of the war, about 100 Red Banners were left to the Urals for eternal storage.
Severe trials during the war befell the village, Agriculture. The amount of labor has sharply decreased, and the mechanization of agricultural work has decreased. Teenagers and old people came to production, women took the place of men. And yet, during the war years, the Urals produced over 700 million poods (12 million tons) of grain.
Care and attention to the defenders of the Motherland raised their morale. More than 1,200 envoys of the Urals during the war years became Heroes of the Soviet Union (9 people - twice), over 200 became full holders of the Order of Glory.
The unity of the front and rear, the patriotism of the people was also manifested in the nationwide movement to help the front. During the war years, the workers of the Urals contributed more than 7.2 billion rubles to the defense fund, and over 1.3 billion rubles to the Red Army fund for the creation of weapons (massive development of the fund since the end of 1942). According to incomplete data, the residents of the Urals collected more than 4.2 million tons of scrap metal, signed up for military loans (there were 4 of them) in the amount of over 6.8 billion rubles, and purchased money and clothing lottery tickets in the amount of more than 1.8 billion rubles .
Republican, regional, city and district commissions were created locally to organize the collection of warm clothes, and assistance commissions were created in institutions, enterprises, rural councils and collective farms; points were created to receive parcels of gifts and warm clothes from organizations and individual citizens. For areas that achieved the best results in collecting warm clothes, passing Red Banners were established. The commissions carried out propaganda and explanatory work among the population. An important place in the work of the commissions was occupied by the organization of meetings of workers. Commissions were created everywhere; so, in Orenburg region There were 3,161 commissions in operation, of which 2,097 were at collective farms, 82 at state farms, and 982 at enterprises, institutions and large residential buildings.
According to incomplete data, during the war years the workers of the Urals sent about 1,300 wagons of gifts to the front and collected more than 2.4 million different warm clothes.
Thus, we see that during the time of difficult trials in the Urals, the industrial potential increased to the maximum due to the placement of a large number of evacuated enterprises.
The mobilization of workers to the front initially significantly outpaced their replenishment, which created an acute shortage of production personnel. The evacuation greatly eased the expansion of this problem. Of all able-bodied people who arrived in the Sverdlovsk region, more than 50% actively participated in work at industrial enterprises. In this regard, most factories underwent not only technical, but also personnel reconstruction. On average, the share of evacuated workers in the industrial production of the Middle Urals by the end of 1942 was 31%. At some sites it reached 50-75%, which actually led to the formation of a new workforce.
The Urals, who at that time produced the bulk of tanks and self-propelled guns, were rightfully proud of the victory on the Volga, where the armored forces showed an irresistible striking force. It became clear to everyone: the success of the upcoming battles and the final victory over the enemy largely depend on the number of our magnificent combat vehicles, combined into large tank formations. And, continuing to work for the front with the greatest enthusiasm, the workers of the stronghold of the state decided to give the front-line soldiers another unique gift - a volunteer tank corps, providing it with everything necessary for battle through unpaid labor outside normal hours.
The mighty and holy unity of the Soviet Army and our heroic people was especially clearly manifested in the very birth of the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps, in its glorious military deeds.
2. Ural Volunteer Tank Corps - a gift to the front
In the second chapter describes the history of formation and combat pathUral Volunteer Tank Corps.
2.1.Formation of the body
The idea of creating a large tank formation of volunteers arose in the factory teams of the Ural tank builders and was taken up by the entire working class of the Urals in the days when our country was under the impression of the victoriously completed Battle of Stalingrad.
The year 1943 became a special page in the history of the Urals. The workers of the “supporting edge of the state” formed a unique gift to the front - the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps. The state did not spend a single penny on its formation. Everything that was needed for the corps (from buttons to T-34 tanks) was made by the workers beyond the plan or purchased with their savings. People sacrificed their last for the benefit of this endeavor; tens of thousands of volunteers were instantly found who wanted to serve in this formation. And during the war years this is at the limit of human strength and capabilities. This was truly massive labor heroism in the Urals.
We have already seen that during the Great Patriotic War the Urals were the main supplier of tanks and other armored vehicles to the front. Women and children, working 16-18 hours, constantly forged weapons of victory. And even in such conditions, the workers of the Ural factories took upon themselves the obligation to assemble and equip an entire tank corps on their own, with personal money and outside of working hours.
On the initiative of tank builders, the newspaper "Ural Worker" on January 16, 1943 published the material "Tank Corps - Above Plan": tank builders of the Urals pledged to exceed production plans for the production of military products, work for free and, above plan, regularly deduct part of their earnings to equip the corps with combat vehicles , weapons, uniforms.
The patriotic initiative of Sverdlovsk residents was picked up by the Chelyabinsk and Molotov regions. On February 26, 1943, the Commander of the Ural Military District, Major General F.G. Katkov, issued a directive stating that on the territory of the Ural Military District, by decision of the Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk and Molotov regional committees of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, approved by the People's Commissar of Defense, Marshal of the Soviet Union by Comrade Stalin, a special Ural Volunteer Tank Corps with a strength of 9,661 people is formed. The commanders of units and formations were instructed to begin training personnel as they arrived, without waiting for regular staffing.
As a result, on February 24, 1943, the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps was ready for war. The tanks were ready, the service was ready, but most importantly, 9,660 men were ready who wanted to defend their homeland.
In Sverdlovsk in March 1943, the 197th Tank Brigade was formed, which became part of the corps and took part in all its combat operations. When forming the brigade, the strictest selection was made. Thus, out of more than 2 thousand Uralmash residents who voluntarily wished to become tank crews, only 200 people became brigade fighters. The carefully selected composition of the brigade predetermined high level her military training.
A large tank formation was formed in a surprisingly short time. By order of the People's Commissar of Defense of March 11, 1943, it was given the name - 30th Ural Volunteer Tank Corps. Major General of Tank Forces G.S. Rodin, who returned to duty after being seriously wounded, was appointed corps commander, Colonel B.F. Eremeev was appointed chief of staff, Colonel S.M. Kuranov was appointed head of the political department, who was soon replaced by Colonel V.M. Shalunov.
In a solemn atmosphere, volunteers received weapons and military equipment, continuing to fully prepare for the upcoming tests. On the holiday of May 1, 1943, the soldiers of the corps took the oath of allegiance to the Fatherland, and soon an order was received to go to the front.
The people of the Urals solemnly saw off their best sons and daughters, presented their patron’s banners and their orders. Here are just some lines from the order of the working people of the Urals to the volunteer tank crews: “Our dear sons and brothers, fathers and husbands! We equipped a volunteer tank corps with our own funds. With our own hands we lovingly and carefully forged weapons for you. We worked on it day and night. In this weapon are our cherished and ardent thoughts about the bright hour of our Victory; in it is our will, as firm as the Ural stone: to crush and exterminate the fascist beast. Carry this will with you into hot battles. Remember our order. It contains our parental love and a stern order, marital parting words and our oath. Don’t forget: you and your cars are a part of us, this is our blood, our good old Ural glory, our fiery anger towards the enemy. Feats and glory await you.
We are waiting for you with victory! And then the Urals will hug you tightly and lovingly and glorify their heroic sons throughout the centuries. Our land, free and proud, will compose songs about the heroes of the Great Patriotic War.” In front of the Battle Banners of their units, in front of their fellow countrymen, the volunteer soldiers took an oath: to fulfill the order and return to their native Urals only with Victory.
Trains with personnel and military equipment arrived in the Moscow region on June 10, 1943. Here the corps was supplemented by the 359th anti-aircraft artillery regiment, other units and subunits, and itself became part of the 4th Tank Army.
On April 24, 1943, the corps command turned to the District Military Council with a request to petition the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to produce battle flags for the corps units and formations. On May 1, 1943, in all units and formations of the corps, volunteers solemnly took the military oath and were presented with military weapons. On May 9, 1943, at the Sverdlovsk Opera House, the working Urals advised the volunteers of the corps units and formations formed in Sverdlovsk to battle the enemy, and presented the corps with its ORDER: “Do not disgrace the centuries-old military traditions of the Urals, defeat the enemy, take revenge on him for his desecration native land, return to your native Urals only with victory.” The corps was presented with the CHEF'S banner. The corps commander, Lieutenant General G.S. Rodin, bowed his knee. The volunteers vowed to fulfill the NAND of the Urals people.
On June 2, 1943, units and formations of the corps with personnel, tanks, vehicles and ammunition were loaded into trains and redeployed to the Moscow region. In the act of transferring the 30th UDTK to the Kosterevsky tank camp, it was noted that the corps personnel were satisfactorily prepared. The middle ranks of the command staff were staffed by tank schools and KUKS. Junior commanders and rank and file are Ural volunteers. Of the 8,206 corps personnel, only 536 people had military experience. Women also served in units and formations of the corps: 123 privates and junior commanders, 249 signalmen and radio operators.
The material part of the combat vehicles and artillery weapons received by the corps was completely new.
During the Great Patriotic War, 9,356 Finnish knives were produced specifically for the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps. These short blades with black handles, which were in service with our tank crews, inspired fear and respect in the enemies. Black knife is the popular name for an army knife of the 1941 model, produced by the Zlatoust Tool Factory during the Great Patriotic War. In shape, the “black knife” was a Finnish-style knife with a straight single-edged blade, a wooden handle with a small flat iron guard and a wooden sheath. The handle and scabbard were covered with black varnish, and the iron fittings of the scabbard and guard were blued - hence the name. The knives were valued for their great strength and sharpness of the blade and were intended to equip scouts and paratroopers. In some intelligence units, "black knives" were awarded to recruits only after taking several "tongues" or other combat tests. During the formation of the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps in 1943, each soldier and commander received a “black knife” as a gift from the Zlatoust gunsmiths. This feature in the equipment of the Ural tank crews was immediately noticed by German intelligence, which gave the corps its name - “Schwarzmesser Panzern-Division” (Schwarzmesser Panzern Division) - the “Black Knife” tank division. The amateur jazz orchestra of the corps often performed for the soldiers the “Song about the “black knives,” the music for which was written by Ivan Ovchinin, who later died in the battles for the liberation of Hungary. The “black knife” is also mentioned in the “March of the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps.” Small batches by the plant An officer's version of the "black knife" was also produced, intended mainly for awards and gifts and distinguished by chrome-plated parts of the handle and sheath. Decorated knives along with sabers were presented during the Great Patriotic War to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief I.V. Stalin and Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. .Zhukov.
2.2.Combat history
The UDTK's combat route was over 5,500 km, of which 2,000 km included combat, from Orel to Prague. The Ural Volunteer Tank Corps participated in the Oryol, Bryansk, Proskurov-Chernovtsy, Lviv-Sandomierz, Sandomierz-Silesian, Lower Silesian, Upper Silesian, Berlin and Prague offensive operations. The soldiers of the 4th Tank Army received their baptism of fire north of Orel in the summer of 1943, in battle on the Kursk Bulge. The army arrived on the Bryansk Front on the eve of the fighting that began on July 5, 1943, and during the counter-offensive of Soviet troops it was brought into battle in the Oryol direction .
The first fireworks show in Moscow on August 5, 1943. - to the valiant troops who liberated Orel and Belgorod - was also in honor of the Ural volunteers. The Urals fought desperately, with unparalleled courage, incredible resilience, and it was not without reason that already three months after the start of the fighting, on November 18, 1943. The tank corps became a guards corps.
The Ural Volunteer Tank Corps had the task: advancing from the Seredichi area to the south, cut off the enemy’s Volkhov-Khotynets communications, reach the area of the village of Zlyn, and then straddle the Orel-Bryansk railway and highway and cut off the retreat routes of the Oryol group of Nazis to the west. And the Urals completed their task.
The actions of the Ural Tank Corps, together with other front formations, created a threat of encirclement of the enemy’s Oryol group and forced it to retreat.
Many more victories remain for our tankers. They ended the war on May 9, 1945 in Prague. At 4 o'clock the main forces of the corps entered the city, and soon other formations of the 4th Tank Army. From the northwest and north, formations of the 3rd Guards Tank Army entered Prague in the morning, and formations of the 13th and 3rd Guards Armies in the afternoon. The first to rush into Prague was the crew of the T-34 tank of the Chelyabinsk tank brigade under the command of Lieutenant I. G. Goncharenko from the platoon of Lieutenant L. E. Burakov.
During the two years of participation in the Great Patriotic War, the tank corps liberated hundreds of cities and thousands of settlements. The Ural tank crews inflicted terrible damage on the enemy: 1,110 enemy tanks and self-propelled guns, and a huge amount of other enemy military equipment were captured and destroyed, 94,620 enemy soldiers and officers were destroyed. Quite a few tank guardsmen showed themselves to be real masters of tank combat, for example, M. Kuchenkov had 32 fascist tanks, N. Novitsky - 29, N. Dyachenko - 31, M. Razumovsky - 25
For skillful military operations, heroism, courage and bravery of the Ural volunteers, Supreme Commander-in-Chief I.V. Stalin expressed gratitude to the corps and units 27 times.
The corps was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of Suvorov, II degree, and the Order of Kutuzov, II degree. During the Great Patriotic War, 42,368 orders and medals were awarded to the soldiers of the corps, 27 soldiers and sergeants became full holders of the Order of Glory, 38 guardsmen of the corps were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and Colonel M.G. Fomichev was awarded this high title twice.
2.3.After the war
After the end of the Great Patriotic War, the 10th UDTK, by order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief No. 0013 of June 10, 1945 and on the basis of the Directive of the General Staff of the Red Army No. ORG/1/143 of June 15, 1945, was renamed the 10th Guards Tank Ural-Lvov Volunteer Red Banner Order of Suvorov and Kutuzov Division .
Since 1945, units of the division began planned combat training as part of the GSVG. From June 17 to 23, 1953 and from August 12 to 13, 1961, units of the division carried out combat missions to support the activities of the Government of the GDR. Throughout its entire time on German soil, the division was considered one of the best tank formations of the GSVG.
For high results in combat training, the division was named after Marshal of the Soviet Union R.Ya. Malinovsky by order of the USSR Ministry of Defense No. 100 dated June 16, 1967. The division was also awarded:
1967 - Commemorative Banner of the CPSU Central Committee, the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.
1970 - Lenin Jubilee Certificate of Honor.
For great merits in the armed defense of the Motherland, success in mastering new equipment of the 10th Guards TD, by Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces dated February 21, 1978, she was awarded the Order of the October Revolution.
In 1994, according to the decision of the Government of the Russian Federation, the 10th Guards TD was the last to leave the territory of Germany, redeployed to the city of Boguchar, Voronezh Region, and became part of the Moscow Military District. This movement, unprecedented on a peacetime scale, was carried out in combined marches between November 1993 and July 1994. Currently, units of the division are located in three garrisons - Bogucharsky (division headquarters and the main composition of units), Voronezh - (248 motorized rifle regiment), Kursk - 6th Motorized Rifle Regiment (became part of the division after the disbandment of the 63rd Guards TP and 63rd Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade). During its short period of being part of the Moscow Military District, the division showed itself to be a combat-ready formation ready to complete any assigned task.
Every year, division units are visited by veterans of 10 UDTKs who now live in the cities of Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Perm, Rostov. Fulfilling their orders and wishes, the personnel of the tank guards honorably continue the glorious military traditions established during the harsh years of the Second World War. Under the leadership of experienced commanders, a significant part of whom went through the crucible of battles in Afghanistan, Chechnya and other “hot spots”, the soldiers of the 10th Guards. tank division persistently master the “science of winning”, having at their disposal the necessary training and material base, military personnel in a short time become highly qualified military specialists, true professionals in their field and worthily continue the heroic chronicle of the Ural-Lvov Guards.
CONCLUSION
During the Great Patriotic War, the Urals truly became the main backbone of defense and the arsenal of Victory. Of the 1,523 industrial enterprises evacuated during the war, 703 were located in the Urals. About 2 million sons and daughters of the Urals went to the front.
The Urals provided about half of the artillery pieces and mortars, more than 2/3 of the tanks (60% medium and 100% heavy). The workers of the Urals produced more tanks and self-propelled guns than all of Germany together with the occupied countries. The Urals provided over half of all ammunition produced in the country. Every second shell fired at the enemy was made of Ural steel. There was no type of weapon that the Urals did not send to front-line soldiers; About 100 types of military equipment and weapons were produced here. In terms of the pace and size of industrial production during the war years, the Urals took first place among other regions of the USSR. In 1943, the same amount of industrial products was produced in the Urals as in the Volga region, Western Siberia, Kazakhstan and Central Asia combined. The Urals provided up to 40% of all production of the country's military industry.
The combat feat of the tank corps volunteers is forever included ininto the annals of not only the history of the Great Patriotic War, but also the entire world history. The memory of the heroism of the Urals people is carefully preserved in the minds of subsequent generations. Scientific articles and monographs have been written about the corps, collections of memoirs of participants in the events have been published, and television and radio broadcasts have been prepared and conducted. Ongoing painstaking research battle path volunteers are discovering more and more new facts from the front-line biographies of soldiers.
On the station square in the Zheleznodorozhny district of Yekaterinburg there is a Monument to the soldiers of the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps. The monument was opened on February 23, 1962. The sculptors of the monument are V. M. Druzin and P. A. Sazhin, the architect is G. I. Belyankin. A two-figure composition of a sculpture of an old worker and a young tanker, symbolizing the unity of the front and rear. The height of the monument is 13 meters. For a characteristic detail - a hand held forward in a work mitten - the monument was popularly nicknamed “Mitten”. This monument is a symbol of one of the major events in the chronicle of Victory - the formation of the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps.
The conducted research made it possible to get acquainted with the history of the formation of the legendary Ural Volunteer Tank Corps and to determine the conditions that contributed to this event. Namely, with the changes that have occurred at the enterprises of the Ural region, with the destinies of people who have made a worthy contribution to their activities and to the development of our region. During the research it became clear that the UralsThey deliberately endured material deprivation in order to help the front, sometimes giving away the last, most necessary things. Such assistance strengthened the morale of soldiers and commanders, increased combat effectiveness and the desire to quickly defeat the enemy.
All these facts give rise to a feeling of pride in motherland, because in every family there are warriors, defenders of the Fatherland, home front workers who played a decisive role in the history of the Urals and Russia.
Thanks to modern information technology We, residents of small towns, had the opportunity to look into those distant, terrible years, look at photographs, copies of documents, get acquainted with publications, and video materials.
As a result, we realized how little we know about the history of our native places, sometimes we don’t think about the fact that veterans - witnesses are leaving usthe national feat of forming the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps;
- there was a desire to find out more details about the people who accomplished the feat.
Bibliography:
- Sinitsyn A.M. Nationwide assistance to the front. M., 1975; Ural to the front./ Edited by A.V. Mitrofanova. M., 1985.
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