Podolsk Artillery School of Anti-Tank Artillery. Ilyinsky lines - a feat of Podolsk Cadets

In October 1941, cadets of infantry and artillery military schools, consisting of 5 rifle battalions and 6 artillery batteries, held the defense for 12 days 20 km west of the city of Maloyaroslavets in the area of ​​​​the village of Ilyinskoye. Young infantrymen and artillerymen destroyed up to 5 thousand German soldiers and officers, knocked out about 100 tanks. At the cost of their lives, they delayed the enemy column and made it possible to strengthen the nearby approaches to Moscow.

"Memories and Reflections", Marshal Soviet Union G. K. Zhukov about the situation near Moscow: “The defense of our fronts could not withstand the concentrated attacks of the enemy. Gaping gaps formed that there was nothing to close, since there were no reserves left in the hands of the command.”.

At the beginning of October 1941, a 25-kilometer German motorized column was moving at full speed along the Warsaw Highway in the direction of Yukhnov. 200 tanks, 20 thousand infantry in vehicles, accompanied by aviation and artillery, did not encounter any resistance.

On October 5, 1941, the Germans entered Yukhnov. There were 198 kilometers left to Moscow, and there were no Soviet troops on this route. The enemy was anticipating a quick victory: it was necessary to pass Maloyaroslavets, Podolsk and from the south, where Moscow was not protected, to break into Moscow.

Ambitious plans were thwarted by 3,500 thousand boys: 2,000 cadets of the Podolsk infantry school and 1,500 thousand cadets of the Podolsk artillery school. They were thrown in October 1941 to the Ilyinsky line to hold off the enemy at all costs - there was no one else.

In 1938−1940 Artillery and infantry schools were created in Podolsk. Before the start of the war, more than 3,000 cadets trained there.

The Podolsk Artillery School (PAS) was formed in September 1938 and trained anti-tank artillery platoon commanders. It consisted of 4 artillery divisions. Each included 3 training batteries and 4 platoons. There were about 120 cadets in the training battery. In total, over 1,500 cadets studied here. The head of the school was Colonel I.S. Strelbitsky (1900-25.11.1980).

A hastily formed combined detachment of cadets removed from training on combat alert was given a combat mission: to occupy the Ilyinsky combat sector of the Mozhaisk defense line of Moscow in the Maloyaroslavets direction and block the enemy’s path for 5-7 days until the General Headquarters reserves arrived from the depths of the country. The 53rd and 312th rifle divisions, 17th and 9th tank brigades were given assistance to the combined detachment.

In order to prevent the enemy from occupying the Ilyinsky defensive sector first, an advance detachment was formed. He, together with a detachment of airborne troops defending the village of Strekalovo, held back the advance of superior enemy forces for five days. During this time, 20 tanks, 10 armored vehicles were knocked out and about a thousand enemy soldiers and officers were destroyed. But the losses on our side were enormous. By the time they reached the Ilyinskoye area, only 30-40 fighters remained in the cadet companies of the forward detachment.

On October 6, the main forces of the cadets occupied the Ilyinsky combat area. The defense took place along the eastern banks of the Luzha and Vypreika rivers from the village of Lukyanovo, through Ilyinskoye to Malaya Shubinka.

These pillboxes can still be found on the defense line:

Historical monument - long-term firing point. Heavy type semi-capanier machine gun with a Maxim system heavy machine gun. Built in September 1941. In this pillbox in October 1941, cadets of the 2nd platoon of Lieutenant Lysyuk of the 8th company of the Podolsk Infantry School fought heroically, repelling attacks from German tanks and infantry.

Machine gun cap.

Exploded bunker.

Since the morning of October 11, the positions of the cadets were subjected to fierce military attacks - massive bombing and artillery shelling. After this, a column of German tanks and armored personnel carriers with infantry began moving towards the bridge at higher speed. But the front line of our defense came to life, the Nazi attack was repulsed. The Germans, incomparably superior to the cadets in combat power and numbers, were defeated. They could neither reconcile nor understand what was happening.

During the battles on the Ilyinsky line, the fourth battery of the PAU was assigned a responsible task - not to miss the breakthrough of German tanks along the Vorshavskoe highway to Maloyaroslavets.

The fourth battery of the Podolsk Artillery School under the command of Senior Lieutenant A.I. Aleshkina was hastily formed while still in school to conduct combat operations on the Ilyinsky lines. In total, the battery had 4 45-mm horse-drawn anti-tank guns of the 1937 model. Lieutenant I.I. was appointed commander of the fire platoons. Museridze and A.G. Shapovalov. The commanders of the guns were sergeants Belyaev, Dobrynin, Kotov and Belov.

Personnel of the 4th PAU battery.
“Everything down to the letter, as in the list signed by Mr. Aleshkin and Mr. Sychev.”

The gun crews were staffed on the principle of two cadets per position. The garrison of each bunker had at its disposal one light machine gun to guard the approaches and fight German infantry. The machine-gun security crew consisted of four artillerymen, who at any moment could replace their retired comrades at the guns. One cadet outside the bunker served as an observer. Six cadets ensured the delivery of boxes of shells from a remote warehouse.

Battery commander Aleshkin was located in a bunker, which was on the highway in the village of Sergievka. Together with him was the cadet crew of the first 45-mm cannon from Shapovalov’s platoon, where Belyaev was the commander.

Aleshkin's bunker was located on the same diagonal with the peasant huts and was well disguised as a log barn. Two spare gun trenches were opened near the bunker. During the battle, the bunker garrison quickly rolled out a gun from the casemate, occupied a spare trench and accurately destroyed enemy tanks on the Warsaw Highway east of the village of Sergievka near the opposite ditch in a well-prepared open firing position.

Platoon of Lieutenant I.I. Museridze, consisting of two 45-mm anti-tank guns, was located on the edge of the forest east of Sergievka in the area of ​​the observation post of the head of the artillery school, Colonel I.S. Strelbitsky. One gun, commanded by Belov, occupied a bunker. Meseridze was also in it. 300 meters to the left of the bunker, in an open trench at the edge of the forest, there was a second gun, commanded by Dobrynin.

In the afternoon of October 13 (on the posters of the Ilyinsky Frontiers Military History Museum, these events are dated 16.10) a tank column of the Nazis managed to bypass the 3rd battalion, reach the Warsaw Highway and attack the cadet positions from the rear. The Germans resorted to a trick; red flags were attached to the tanks, but the cadets discovered the deception. In a fierce battle, the tanks were destroyed.

Head of PAU Strelbitsky I.S.: “On the afternoon of October 16, the roar of tank engines was heard. But he was approaching not from the west (from the enemy), but from the east (from our rear). The lead tank appeared, followed by a second, a third. The soldiers jumped out of the parapet of the trenches and, waving their caps and hats, joyfully greeted the tankers. No one doubted that they had arrived from Maloyaroslavets to provide support. And suddenly a shot rang out, followed by another. It was Lieutenant Shapovalov, a platoon commander from the 4th battery, who examined the white crosses on the sides of the vehicles through binoculars and opened fire on them from his gun. Two tanks immediately caught fire, the rest, increasing their speed, turned around and, shooting as they went, rushed towards our positions. Now everyone has identified the enemy tanks. The crews quickly took their places at the guns. Almost simultaneously, several cannons met the enemy with fire. To the left of Museridze's bunker, Yuri Dobrynin's 45-mm gun was fighting from a trench in an open position. Gunner Alexander Remezov hit the fascist tank with the first shot, and it immediately caught fire. But the cadet did not take into account the rollback of the gun, and the eyepiece of the sight injured his eye. His place was taken by gun commander Yuri Dobrynin. Another fascist tank burst into flames. Another shell hit a car with ammunition - a huge explosion darted over the highway. Our 76-mm guns also opened fire on enemy armored vehicles. This is Prokopov's division with old three-inch guns of the 1898 model with brass eagles riveted on the barrels, which is located on the edge of the forest south of the highway. Near the PAK command post in a sparse forest near the anti-tank ditch, the 76-mm divisional gun of the 1902/30 model of Captain Bazylenko and the 45-mm anti-tank gun of Karasev occupied positions. The battle between the artillerymen and the first group of eight tanks lasted no more than seven to eight minutes. Only one tank, walking with a red flag at the head of the column, tried to break through the positions at maximum speed, but near Sergievka it was covered by our shells. Lieutenant Aleshkin and his cadets hit without a miss. 10 hits were later found in the tank's hull. The Dota garrison rolled out a gun from the semi-caponier, occupied a spare trench and accurately destroyed enemy tanks. However, during the battle with a tank column, when the last tank was destroyed by Aleshkin, directly near the bunker, the Nazis discovered a well-camouflaged gun semi-caponier and began hunting for it. In this battle, the artillerymen destroyed 14 tanks, 10 vehicles and armored personnel carriers, destroyed about 200 fascist machine gunners, 6 tanks and 2 armored personnel carriers were burned by the cadets of Dobrynin’s crew.”

PAK cadet Ivanov D.T..: “I was a machine gunner in the cover group in the Museridze bunker, in front of which there was an anti-tank ditch. Observers reported that a column of tanks and armored personnel carriers was approaching from the rear, straight along the highway. At first it was difficult to make out, but soon we made out crosses on the sides of the tanks. Museridze and Belov commanded “Armour-piercing, fire!” Gunner Sinsokov took aim at the lead tank with a given lead. Shot! The tank burst into flames. But something wrong happened to the gunner: he sat down on the ground, covered his eyes with his hands, and blood was running down his face. It turns out that he miscalculated the rollback, and the sight damaged his eye. Another cadet took over as the gunner, and the shooting continued. The turrets of enemy tanks turned their guns towards our bunker. Then, as luck would have it, three shells missed the tank. Finally the fourth hit, and another armored vehicle caught fire. On the left was Yura Dobrynin's gun. Those guns that were in positions near the highway also joined the battle, including the guns of Captain Prokopov. One after another, the tanks caught fire, but the fascist infantry prepared for battle and rushed to our positions.”

PAU cadet Rudakov B.N.: “Seeing that the provocation had failed, the enemy tanks following the lead turned into battle formation and opened fire. All the guns of the artillery anti-tank reserve of the 4th PTOP entered the battle. Some of the tanks nevertheless moved forward along the highway. It was no longer possible to fire Shapovalov’s cannon because an enemy tank was in her position. The crew quickly moved the gun into cover and prepared grenades for battle. Lieutenant Shapovalov himself crawled along the ditch to the tank and threw two anti-tank grenades at it, one after another. The tank caught fire, but the lieutenant himself was wounded. The cadets carried him from the battlefield".

Rolf Hipze(German): “On October 16, a very significant battle took place. The second battalion of the 73rd regiment was supposed to prepare to connect to the right of Sergievka with the second battalion of the 74th regiment advancing from Cherkasovo, together with a company of tanks of the 27th regiment. To the east of Sergievka there was a previously undiscovered, well-equipped Russian gun position that prevented any penetration. One after another, 14 of the 15 German tanks were knocked out. Only one tank reached the defense line near the Vypreika River.".

Greiner(German): “At 13.00 a column of the fourth company of medium and light tanks of Lieutenant Pftzer from the 27th Tank Regiment is formed in Cherkasovo. First, 8 tanks (2 Pz IV tanks and 6 Pz 38 tanks), then an infantry company on motorcycles and armored personnel carriers, and behind another 7 Pz 38 tanks. Part of the infantry sits on tanks. Tanks can only move on highways, because... The area adjacent to the highway is planted with trees. Just before approaching Sergievka from the forest, they open fire on the infantry, forcing them to jump off the armor of the tanks. The tanks move on to break through Ilyinskoye, however, two of them are knocked out. Infantrymen take the fight, but do not see the enemy. Soon a lagging second group of 7 tanks appears and engages the enemy. The infantry advances in a chain in a ditch on both sides of the highway. The situation is getting more serious than we expected. We believed that by advancing with 15 tanks we would encounter only minor resistance. The first half of the tanks reached the offensive goal, but did not return. Other tanks are slowly approaching our hill in front of Sergievka. In the middle of the highway there is a destroyed German tank, a meek distance from it is another, which has slid into a ditch and cannot go further. Bullets are whistling over our heads and there is no way to even stick our heads out. The lead tank burns with a bright flame, the turret hatch opens, from which the crew rushes into the crater. The danger is that our advance has stopped. Tanks are parked on the highway and are perfect targets for Russian cannons, which fire very accurately. The shells hiss as they pass over the highway. Before we had time to recover from the first shock, another tank was knocked out. The crew also abandons him. Then 2 more tanks were hit. We watch in horror the burning tanks and hear the Russian “Hurray!”, although we do not see the enemy. Our ammunition is running low. Half an hour later we are seized with panic. There are 6 destroyed tanks and the cannons are still firing. What should we do? Back? Then we come under machine-gun fire. Forward? Who knows how many enemy forces are in the village, and we are running out of ammunition. In dashes, the soldiers occupy the opposite ditch. Here, under the cover of the fir trees, stands the 7th tank, which calls the first group from Ilinsky for help. Soon this tank gets hit and catches fire. A lieutenant runs out of the tank. This is perhaps the decisive moment of this battle - 6 tanks returned from Ilyinsky. At this time, from the west, military engineers, under fire from bunkers, are trying to establish a crossing in the area of ​​the destroyed bridge over the Vypreika River. Tanks returning from Ilyinsky appear as rescuers. Led by two Pz IV tanks. They approach and take aim at enemy anti-aircraft guns. But after the first shots fired by them, the first tank gets hit and burns with a bright flame. The crew runs out of the burning tank. Shortly after this, the second tank is also hit. We are disappointed. The last two Pz 38 tanks are starting to move at full speed.”

The situation in the Ilyinsky combat area was steadily deteriorating - the Germans rained down a barrage of artillery and mortar fire on our positions. The air force struck one blow after another. But the cadets of the companies and batteries did not give up. The defenders' forces were quickly dwindling; there were not enough shells, cartridges and grenades.

By October 16, the surviving cadets had only five guns, and then with incomplete gun crews. Taking advantage of the small number of our infantry, the Nazis destroyed fire crews right in their positions in night battles.
On the morning of October 16, the enemy launched a new powerful fire strike throughout the Ilyinsky combat area. The cadet garrisons in the remaining pillboxes and bunkers were shot by direct fire from tanks and cannons. The enemy was slowly moving forward when a camouflaged pillbox appeared on his way on the highway near the village of Sergeevka, commanded by the commander of the 4th PAU battery, Lieutenant A.I. Aleshkin.

The crew of cadet Belyaev's 45-mm training gun opened fire and knocked out several combat vehicles. The forces were unequal, and everyone understood this. Unable to storm the pillbox from the front, the Nazis attacked it from the rear in the evening and threw grenades through the embrasure. The heroic garrison was almost completely destroyed. The bodies of the heroes were found only in 1973, when construction of a private house was underway near the bunker in the village of Sergeevka. Their clothes and documents had decayed, only one buttonhole of an artillery school cadet with the letters “PAU” remained. The combat crew of the Aleshkinsky bunker was buried in mass grave at the Ilyinsky rural cemetery.

Aleshkinsky bunker.

Afanasy Ivanovich Aleshkin (January 18, 1913 - October 16, 1941) - born in the village of Tserkovishche Smolensk region. In 1932 he graduated from an agricultural technical school with a degree in agronomist. After passing conscript service from 1935-1938 he studied at the Moscow Military University named after. VTsIK (Kremlin cadet). In 1939 he was sent to serve in the PAU. Married, son Vladimir. The commander of the 4th battery of the Podolsk Artillery School, died in the village. Ilyinskoye October 16, 1941.

In this pillbox in October 1941, the commanders and cadets of the Podolsk Artillery School heroically fought and died, repelling the attacks of German tanks.

On the evening of October 16 German troops captured defensive lines in the Ilyinsky combat area, almost all the cadets holding the defense in this area died.

On the night of October 17, the command post of Podolsk schools moved to the location of the 5th PPU company in the village of Lukyanovo.

On October 18, they were subjected to new enemy attacks and by the end of the day the command post and the 5th company were surrounded and cut off from the cadets defending Kudinovo. The commander of the combined detachment, General Smirnov, gathered the remnants of the 5th and 8th cadet companies and organized the defense of Lukyanovo.

By the evening of October 19, an order to withdraw was received. The defenders of Kudinovo, thanks to the decision of the senior group of PAU Lieutenant Smirnov and the assistant platoon commander of PPU cadets Konoplyanik to throw grenades at the Germans, managed to escape from the encirclement.

Mass grave of Podolsk cadets in Kudinovo.

Only on the night of October 20 did the surviving cadets begin to withdraw from the Ilyinsky line to join the army units occupying defenses on the Nara River.

On October 25, the surviving PPU personnel set off on a field march to Ivanovo to continue their studies.

In honor of the feat of the cadets, a monument was erected in Podolsk on May 7, 1975. The authors of the monument are sculptors Y. Rychkov and A. Myamlin, architects L. Zemskov and L. Skorb.

On May 8, 1975, a memorial complex was opened in the village of Ilyinskoye, which includes the Military History Museum Ilyinsky Borders, the Mound of Glory with a monument to Pdolsk cadets, at the foot of which the Eternal Flame should burn, two pillboxes that have been preserved on Ilyinsky land since 1941. The author of the memorial is Honored Architect of the RSFSR, State Prize laureate E.I. Kireev, author of the monument, sculptor Yu.L. Rychkov.

Mound of Glory with a monument to Podolsk cadets.

In this bunker in October 1941, commanders and cadets of the Podolsk Artillery School heroically fought and died, repelling the attacks of German tanks: cadet Boldyrev
cadet Gnezdilov
cadet Grigoryants
cadet Eleseev
cadet Kryuchkov
cadet Nikitenko
Lieutenant Deremyan A.K.
Sergeant Major Sidorenko

Military-historical museum “Ilyinskiye Borders”.

In the battles at the Ilyinsky combat site, Podolsk cadets destroyed up to 5000 German soldiers and officers and knocked out 100 tanks. They on 2 weeks detained the enemy at the firing line near the village. Ilyinskoye and made it possible to strengthen the nearby approaches to Moscow.
They completed their task - at a cost of 2500 thousands of lives.

During the Great Patriotic War 36 Podolsk cadets of different graduations became Heroes of the Soviet Union.

On September 30, 1941, Nazi Germany and its satellites and allies launched an attack on Moscow. The Fuhrer's plans to capture the Soviet capital before the approaching winter were seriously disrupted by the battle for Smolensk, which lasted two months. Although the Nazis still managed to capture the city and inflict a serious defeat on the units and formations of the Red Army defending Smolensk, time was lost. But Hitler and his entourage did not lose hope of taking Moscow before the cold weather. The forces of Army Group Center with a total number of 1,929,406 military personnel, including 72 (according to other sources 78) divisions, were concentrated in the Moscow direction. The army group was armed with about 2 thousand tanks and self-propelled artillery units, 14 thousand artillery pieces and mortars, and 780 aircraft.

To defend the capital, Stalin concentrated the forces of several fronts. By September 30, 1941, the Western, Reserve and Bryansk Fronts alone numbered 1,250,000 people. Almost all the forces that the Red Army had in the capital area were deployed to defend Moscow. The civilian population was mobilized to build fortifications.

Meanwhile, the Nazis were rapidly moving towards Moscow. On October 3, 1941, the troops of Nazi Germany broke into Orel, on October 6, the 17th Tank Division of the Wehrmacht captured Bryansk, and the 18th Tank Division captured Karachev. Three Soviet armies - the 3rd, 13th and 50th - were surrounded near Bryansk, and the commander of the Bryansk Front, Colonel General A.I. Eremenko was seriously injured and was evacuated to Moscow on a special plane. The situation in the Vyazma region was also extremely unfavorable. Here 37 divisions, 9 tank brigades, 31 artillery regiments of the RGK and the departments of the 19th, 20th, 24th and 32nd armies were surrounded. More than 688 thousand Soviet soldiers and officers were captured, and among the prisoners were the commander of the 19th Army, Lieutenant General M.F. Lukin and the former commander of the 32nd Army, Major General S.V. Vishnevsky. The commander of the 24th Army, Major General K.I. Rakutin, died. Only 85 thousand military personnel managed to escape from the encirclement.

At the beginning of October 1941, the enemy continued the offensive in the Maloyaroslavets area. On October 5, the Nazis occupied the city of Yukhnov (Kaluga region), but on the Varshavskoye Highway the path of the advanced units of the 10th Panzer Division of the 57th Motorized Corps of the Wehrmacht was blocked by a small detachment of 430 paratroopers, commanded by the head of the parachute service of the Western Front, Captain Ivan Starchak. He raised the paratroopers on his own initiative and held the defense for several days against the many times superior and well-armed enemy forces.

The forces that could be used in the defense of the capital were becoming less and less. Cadets from military schools in the Moscow region remained in reserve. On October 5, 1941, the personnel of the infantry and artillery schools located in Podolsk near Moscow were alerted. These military educational institutions were created in Podolsk in 1938-1940, when the USSR was rapidly increasing the size of its armed forces, paying special attention to the development of the military education system.

In September 1938, the Podolsk Artillery School was created, designed to train anti-tank artillery platoon commanders. The school simultaneously housed four artillery battalions consisting of three training batteries, each of which included 4 platoons. The personnel of each training battery consisted of about 120 cadets, and in total about 1,500 people studied at the Podolsk Artillery School. The head of the Podolsk Artillery School in 1941 was Colonel Ivan Semenovich Strelbitsky (1890-1980) - a career military man who had passed Civil War and at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he commanded the 8th artillery brigade of anti-tank defense, and was then appointed head of the school.
In the same Podolsk in January 1940, another military educational institution– Podolsk Infantry School, which trained infantry platoon commanders. It also had 4 training battalions, each of which included 4 training companies of 120-150 cadets. The total number of cadets at the Podolsk Infantry School numbered more than 2,000 cadets.

Since December 1940, the Podolsk Infantry School was headed by Major General Vasily Andreevich Smirnov (1889-1979) - a former officer tsarist army, a graduate of the Vilna Military School and a participant in the First World War, who rose to the rank of battalion commander of the 141st Mozhaisk Infantry Regiment in the Imperial Army, and then fought in the Civil War on the side of the Red Army. Immediately before his appointment as head of the school, Vasily Smirnov led a special group under the military council of the Moscow Military District, and before that he was assistant commander of the 17th Gorky Rifle Division of the Red Army.

Thus, by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, there were more than 3,500 cadets in Podolsk military schools. Mostly these were yesterday's schoolchildren, as well as young people with complete secondary education, whom the military registration and enlistment offices selected for short-term training, followed by promotion to command ranks and sending to the front as platoon commanders.

When a serious gap appeared in the defense of the Soviet troops in the Ilyinsky combat sector of the Mozhaisk defense line of Moscow, the command had no choice but to raise the Podolsk military schools, forming a consolidated detachment of more than 3,500 people from their cadets. Later it became known that the order to send Podolsk cadets to close the gap was given personally supreme commander I.V. Stalin. The forward detachment of the infantry school, reinforced by an artillery battalion, advanced to a position near Maloyaroslavets. However, the command immediately faced a big problem - it was not so easy to form even one artillery division at the school. One of the few miraculously surviving participants in the terrible battle, Pyotr Lebedev, recalled that the training artillery park contained mostly outdated models of artillery guns, some of which had to be removed even from classrooms. But the main problem was the almost complete lack of transport, since the artillery school was served by horses and there were too many cars. It was necessary to mobilize civilian drivers with the cars of institutions and enterprises.

The personnel of the cadet companies and batteries consisted almost entirely of yesterday’s school graduates who managed to study at schools a few weeks after the start of school year. After all, those cadets who managed to attend the accelerated course had already been released into front-line infantry and artillery units. Therefore, completely inexperienced guys had to defend the entrusted sector of the front. And it was they, the young Podolsk cadets who had just begun to master military professions, who accomplished an impressive feat, holding back the onslaught of Hitler’s elite armies.

Izver River. A typical small river of Central Russia, only 72 kilometers long, flows in the Kaluga region. It was here, near a quiet river, that the advanced detachment of Podolsk cadets took their first battle. A group of German motorized infantry on motorcycles and armored cars arrived in the river area. The attack by paratroopers and infantry school cadets took the Nazis by surprise. The enemy was thrown back far beyond the Izver River, to the western bank of the Ugra River. Of course, the cadets could not liberate Yukhnov with such small forces, but the first combat victory greatly inspired yesterday’s boys. On October 6, the cadets took up defensive positions at the Ilyinsky combat site. They had to defend positions on the eastern bank of the Vypreika and Luzha rivers, between the villages of Lukyanovo and Malaya Shubinka.

Hitler's command found its bearings quickly enough. Air raids began, then artillery shelling, and then German tanks moved towards the positions of the Podolsk cadets. But the cadets held the line. Long-term firing points and long-term wooden-earth firing points were equipped, which allowed the cadets to conduct active fire on the enemy, causing serious damage to equipment and personnel. On October 13, despairing of breaking the resistance of the cadets in a frontal attack, Hitler's command came up with a deceptive maneuver. Tanks went to the rear of the heroic Soviet soldiers under red flags to create the appearance of “our own.” But the cadets quickly understood the essence of what was happening and were able to destroy the advancing enemy tanks. The command of the advancing Wehrmacht units was furious - the “red cadets,” as the Germans called the Podolsk cadets, were breaking all plans to quickly overcome the defense line.

On October 15, Major General Smirnov, head of the infantry school, seeing the difficult situation of the 3rd battalion of cadets, sent his reserve to help him. The cadets ran out of ammunition and had to launch a bayonet attack on the Nazis. By the morning of October 16, the cadets had only 5 artillery pieces left, and even those were equipped with incomplete gun crews.

On October 16, the Nazis again dealt a serious blow in the Ilyinsky combat area. First, tanks and artillery pieces suppressed the cadets' firing points in pillboxes and bunkers. However, near the village of Sergeevka, one of the well-camouflaged pillboxes was never discovered by the Germans. It contained cadets under the command of the commander of the 4th battery of the Podolsk Artillery School, Lieutenant A.I. Aleshkina. Cadet Belyaev, who commanded the crew of a 45-mm cannon, managed to knock out several enemy combat vehicles. The Nazis surrounded the pillbox and attacked it from the rear, throwing grenades through the embrasure. Almost all of the pillbox defenders died.

On October 17, it was necessary to withdraw the command post of the combined detachment to the village of Lukyanovo, where the 5th company of the Podolsk Infantry School was located, but already on October 18, the Nazis began to attack the command post here too, after which the commander of the combined detachment, General Smirnov, led the remnants of the 5th and 8th th cadet companies organized the defense of the village of Lukyanovo. Only on October 20 did the cadets begin to withdraw from the defense line, and on October 25 were they taken to the rear to further advance their studies - the schools were temporarily transferred to Ivanovo.

Of the 3,500 men, only about 500 remained in the ranks. Approximately 2,500 cadets and commanders of Podolsk military schools died in battles with superior enemy forces. Since the bodies of the dead remained on the battlefields until December 1941 - January 1942, when they were buried, most of the dead cadets were never identified and were listed as missing.

The contribution of yesterday's schoolchildren to the defense of Moscow is enormous. Podolsk cadets destroyed about 5 thousand German soldiers and officers, 100 tanks and armored personnel carriers. While the “red cadets” held back the advance of the enemy forces, they managed to create and strengthen a new line of defense and bring in reserves. Those of the Podolsk cadets and commanders who were lucky enough to survive the defense of Moscow subsequently fought on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. Thus, one of the few surviving cadets, Mikhail Lev, had an amazing fate. Having been wounded in German captivity, he managed to escape, became a scout, and then the chief of staff of a partisan detachment, and after the war, a writer. It was Mikhail Lev who was one of the first to tell the world about the feat of his classmates - Podolsk cadets in the chapter “Cadets” of the autobiographical book “Partisan Paths” (1948).

The head of the Podolsk Artillery School, Ivan Strelbitsky, received the rank of major general on November 9, 1941, commanded artillery in the 60th Army, the 3rd Shock Army, the 2nd Guards Army, in 1944 he became a lieutenant general, and continued to serve after graduation war. In 1954-1956. Lieutenant General Ivan Strelbitsky served as head of the Radio Engineering Troops. The head of the Podolsk Infantry School, Vasily Smirnov, also went through the entire war - he commanded the 2nd Moscow Rifle Division, the 116th Red Banner Kharkov Division, and after the war he led the military cycle of the Military pedagogical institute Soviet army, then until 1964 – military department Moscow Institute foreign trade.

The feat of Podolsk cadets began to be studied on their twentieth anniversary Great Victory- in 1965. In 1966, schoolchildren from the city of Klimovsk and Komsomol members of Podolsk made a special multi-day trip to the places of military glory of Podolsk cadets. In 1975, on the 30th anniversary of the Victory, a monument to Podolsk cadets was erected in Podolsk, in 1985 - a monument in Saransk and a memorial on Varshavskoye Highway. Five schools were named after Podolsk cadets Russian Federation. Songs and literary works are dedicated to the memory of brave young fighters.

Shvygin I. I.

The training units of the 57th Infantry Corps completely vacated the premises they occupied by February 20, so training began in Moscow on the basis of the Moscow Infantry and Artillery Schools. The command and teaching staff was formed mainly from reserves and graduates of the Ryazan and 1st Tambov Red Banner Infantry Schools.

On March 15, 1940, formation was completely completed, but classes began in the new building on March 1, 1940. The first three training battalions were staffed by civilian youth and Red Army soldiers conscripted in 1939, and the 4th and 5th battalions were staffed by cadets who arrived from Moscow, Ryazan and other infantry schools. A two-year training period was established. One of the first PPU cadets, S. A. Stern, recalled:

In the first days of the war at the base summer camps School in Luzhki (PO Box 8, lit. 39), thousands of those liable for military service attended training camps. Was formed letter regiment, created for accelerated combat training of those mobilized by conscription and subsequently sent in trains to the Western Front. Several anti-tank defense regiments were formed in Luzhki. In addition to combat training, assistance in the formation and sending of “letter” battalions to the front, commanders and cadets patrolled in the areas of Domodedovo, Kashira and Elektrostal “in case of enemy parachute landings or sabotage groups.”

On August 1, 1941, the school was renamed the Podolsk Infantry School (PPU). The second, accelerated release took place in September. 918 lieutenants - platoon commanders - were sent to the front.

As of October 1, 1941, the following were studying at the Podolsk Infantry School: in the first year - 1458, and in the second - 633 cadets.

Podolsk Artillery School

The Podolsk Artillery School (PAS) was formed in September 1938 and trained VET platoon commanders. The cadets formed four artillery battalions. Each division included three training batteries, consisting of four platoons. About 120 cadets studied in the training battery. One of the first graduates, V. M. Krasnov, recalled:

At the end of the summer of 1938, we arrived from the second Moscow artillery school where we took entrance exams. We lived in tents next to the Warsaw highway. We built and studied. The first graduation took place in May - July 1941...

Many officers from the first graduating class of 1941 remained at the school and were appointed to command positions in training units. IN different time from 1938 to 1941 the Podolsk Artillery School was commanded by: Colonels G. I. Balashev, M. G. Krasutsky, N. A. Oganesyan. With the beginning of the war, the school began the accelerated formation of artillery regiments and divisions for various purposes. In the summer-autumn of 1941, the school garrison managed to form 5 separate artillery divisions of the reserve of the main command, 7 anti-tank defense regiments (ATD) and several searchlight companies.

From September 5 to December 9, 1941, the school was commanded by Colonel I. S. Strelbitsky, who had combat experience. Strelbitsky met the war as the commander of the 8th artillery anti-tank brigade in Western Belarus. In total, about 1,500 people studied at the school. Like the cadets of the infantry school, the artillerymen served in the fight against enemy landings and sabotage groups. The 2nd battalion is in Podolsk, and the 4th is in Serpukhov. At the same time, the school switched to a six-month training period for artillery officers. Also, the PAU organized courses for political fighters, which more than 4,000 Komsomol activists and party members attended before being sent to the front. The second, accelerated release took place in September. 918 artillery officers with the rank of lieutenant were sent to the front. .

Before the start of the Great Patriotic War, more than 3,500 people studied at the Podolsk artillery and infantry military schools. With the beginning of the war, Komsomol students from various universities in the country began to be sent to these schools upon conscription. The overwhelming number of first-year students were trained at OSOAVIAKHIM at their place of residence and already had one or more military professions.

2 or 3 year degree programs have been shortened to 6 months. Many of the cadets managed to study for no more than one month before entering their first battle.

There were quite a few among them who had never shaved, never worked, or gone anywhere without mom and dad.

On the southwestern approaches to Moscow

The situation in the Moscow direction. 30.09 - 30.10.1941

On October 2, the enemy launched powerful attacks on the troops of the Western and Reserve Fronts from areas north of Dukhovshchina and east of Roslavl, he managed to break through the defenses of our troops. The advanced units rapidly moved forward, covering the entire Vyazemsk group from the south and north. By the end of October 7, all routes to Moscow were essentially open.

The operational situation in the Moscow direction changed very quickly and not in favor of the Red Army. Back on October 4, 1941, Headquarters were sure that the front line was 100-150 kilometers from Yukhnov,

From combat report No. 48/OP on 14:20 4.10 Reserve Front headquarters reported:
Since the morning of 04.10, the enemy continued to develop an attack with motorized mechanized units on the flank and rear of the 43rd Army in the general direction of Spas-Demensk. An auxiliary strike - along the Moscow [Warsaw] highway. By 8.45 the enemy had cut the highway

<…>Army commander, contrary to the order of the front commander to defend the river. Snopot, gave the order for the 53rd Infantry Division to withdraw in the direction of Nikolskoye and further to Spas-Demensk. 149, 113 SD and 148 TBR - in the Novo-Alexandrovsky area where it occupies defense.

But the very next day the city and the Emelyanovka airfield were subjected to massive air bombardment. In the evening of the same day, Lieutenant Colonel Polyakov's fighters from the airfield security discovered an enemy reconnaissance detachment on the outskirts of Yukhnov. On October 5, 1941, the Germans occupied almost the entire city and found themselves in the rear of not only the Western but also the Reserve Fronts.

At ten o’clock in the morning on October 5, the Head of the Operations Department of the Operational Group of the Moscow Military District Headquarters, Colonel D. D. Chernov, reported from the Maloyaroslavets area by phone,

...Early in the morning, carts and vehicles from the rear of the 43rd Army, as well as individual military personnel, were detained, which showed that the enemy had launched a major offensive, some divisions were fighting surrounded, there were strong battles. The enemy has many tanks and aircraft are constantly bombing.

In the southwestern direction along the Warsaw Highway from the Ekimovichi - Spas-Demensk area, the 57th German Motorized Corps, which included at least 200 tanks and 20,000 soldiers and officers, moved towards the capital without encountering much resistance. From Yukhnov to Moscow there were about 190 kilometers left. Soviet troops there was practically none in this direction.

The first large enemy tank and motorized formations moving along the Warsaw Highway towards Moscow were discovered the day before by fighter pilots of the 120th IAP Druzhkov and Serov. They reported a German column stretching up to 25 kilometers. They did not believe the pilots and, after reporting to the General Staff, new fighter crews were sent to the Roslavl area several times.

Only after several double-checks was it reported to Stalin about the enemy columns, after which he immediately called a member of the Military Council of the Moscow Military District, Lieutenant General K. F. Telegin and personally tasked him with detaining the enemy on the Mozhaisk line of defense of Moscow at any cost.

37th Maloyaroslavetsky fortified area

The “Mozhaisk line of defense,” which included the 37th Maloyaroslavets fortified area (37th UR), was built hastily from July 16, 1941 at the line: Moscow Sea - Volokolamsk - Mozhaisk - Maloyaroslavets - Detchino. The total design length of the line was 220 kilometers. The depth of defense is from 50 to 80 km, at 380 km 2 with three lanes.

At the beginning of construction, three departments were created: 35th - Volokolamskoye, 36th - Mozhaiskoye and 37th - Maloyaroslavetskoye. On August 26, 1941, the Kaluga 38th Directorate was organized. Management and control of engineering work was carried out by the 20th, 21st and 22nd military field construction departments of the USSR NPO. By mid-August 1941, 12,956 people were employed in the construction of the Maloyaroslavets fortified area, and by September 22 there were already 27,500.

But, starting from July 22, 1941, by decision of the Headquarters, units and subunits of the 34th Army began to be transferred to the Vyazma area, where personnel with equipment and weapons were soon destroyed by enemy planes, tanks and artillery.

Local residents said that there were quite a few of our troops in defense along the Desna and Snopot rivers, but the Germans did not attack recklessly, but at first methodically processed the positions of the Red Army from the air and with artillery. After that, there was no stone left unturned from the bunkers and dugouts. Then came the tanks and infantry, and “the German infantrymen were only engaged in pulling out the distraught, shell-shocked and wounded Red Army soldiers from the trenches and driving them to the roads...”.

Among the Red Army soldiers, commanders, political workers, there were also those who, at the first danger, raised their hands up and voluntarily surrendered to the enemy, throwing away their weapons. And there were quite a few such traitors.

By the end of the summer of 1941, each regiment of the German infantry division had, in addition to its staff, the so-called fourth battalion, formed from collaborators - people who, for various reasons, voluntarily went over to the side of the Wehrmacht and agreed to serve its interests.
The fourth battalions compensated for the shortfall due to the fact that the work of the rear services was partially transferred to the shoulders of the “hiwi” (German: hilfswillige) and various units formed from captured Red Army soldiers and the local population who wished to serve the new order or were forced to perform this service for various reasons...

By early October 1941, construction had not been completed. The 37th (Maloyaroslavets) UR consisted of a chain of unfinished bunkers, in which only a concrete box without hatches, armored shields and doors was ready. There was no camouflage or ventilation, there was no electricity, and there were no surveillance devices.

In addition, on October 5, 1941, there were no troops capable of taking up defensive positions and repelling the advance of the enemy rushing towards Moscow. For example, a 22-kilometer section of the Ilyinsky sector from the village of Durkino to the village. Yuryevsky, located along the line of the Kaluga → Medyn → Vereya road, was not occupied by troops at all.

A little later, on October 11, 1941, at the last moment, this important area was occupied with fighting by the 1083rd Infantry Regiment of the 312th Infantry Division, Colonel A.F. Naumov. The battalions were forced to hastily unload from the trains in the Bashkino-Vorsino area, southwest of Narofominsk, and cover a distance of 60-70 kilometers overnight with all their rears and weapons.

At the cost of huge losses, the soldiers and commanders of the 1083rd regiment managed to hold back the advance of units of the 20th Infantry and 25th Tank Divisions of the Wehrmacht for several days and repel airborne attacks. The enemy intended to occupy Borovsk and Maloyaroslavets with two powerful divergent attacks, while going to the rear of the fighting units and subunits in the area of ​​Medyn, Ilyinsky and Detchino.

It was necessary to gain time to transfer and concentrate GHQ reserves. It took at least 5-7 days.

Vanguard

At approximately 14:50 - October 5, 1941, the deputy commander of the Moscow Military District, Major General N.P. Nikolsky, gave an order by telephone to the acting head of the Podolsk Infantry School, Major S.A. Romanov: “Raise one of the companies on combat alert and send it to as a forward detachment along the route Podolsk - Maloyaroslavets - Medyn - Myatlevo with the task: to come into contact with the enemy to conduct holding battles until the main forces of the school occupy the Ilyinsky line of the 37th Maloyaroslavets UR..." In the order for the school No. 237 dated 10/05/1941 noted:

<…> In accordance with the instructions of the Commander of the Moscow Military District, the school should be considered for those leaving for the front as a separate combat group of the active army...

After five days of bloody battles, having spent almost all the ammunition, the advance detachment retreated to the village of Ilyinskoye, where the main forces had already been deployed. No more than a third of the cadets remained from the advance detachment, but together with the paratroopers they destroyed up to 20 tanks, about 10 armored cars, and disabled several hundred Nazis.

Ilyinsky line

After the alarm was declared on October 5, the main forces of cadets moved in cars and on foot to the area of ​​Ilyinsky, Maloyaroslavets and Detchino to occupy the ready line of defense and build trenches, dugouts and communications.

The defense was deployed along the banks of the Luzha and Vypreika rivers from the village of Lukyanovo to Malaya Shubinka, using unfinished fortifications. A separate battalion of cadets took up defense in the Detchino area, southeast of Ilyinsky for cover railway Moscow-Bryansk and Sukhodrev station from enemy attacks from Kaluga.

On October 9, Colonel A.F. Naumov, commander of the arriving 312th Infantry Division, was appointed head of the Ilyinsky combat sector. The headquarters of the fortified area was organized by Naumov in the village of Panskoye on the northwestern outskirts of Maloyaroslavets. By October 10, regiments 312-inf. They were still unloading at the stops from Narofominsk to Balabanovo.

By the end of October 10, Medyn was abandoned, and already on the morning of October 11, the Germans attempted to storm the Ilyinsky line and organized an attack in the northwestern sector of the 37th UR in the Dyldino-Yuryevskoye area with the goal of quickly capturing Borovsk. The enemy actively used aviation and artillery, after which he switched to infantry attacks. However, all breakthrough attempts on October 11 were repulsed by the cadets and units of the 312th Infantry Division that arrived in the Yuryevsky area. The situation repeated itself the next day. On October 13, we had to repel the attack from the rear. German tanks approached with red flags, but the deception was discovered and the tanks were destroyed.

Podolsk cadets fought at Ilyinsky as part of a group that included (on October 11, 1941) the retreat of V. A. Smirnov and his artillery assistant, Colonel I. S. Strelbitsky, destroyed about 5 thousand German soldiers and officers, knocked out or brought them out building about 100 tanks. The order of the High Command to detain the German troops was carried out at the cost of life. The cadets fought to the death and did not leave their borders. According to TV presenter Dmitry Dibrov: out of 3,500 cadets, about 500 people remained alive...

Perpetuation of memory

The study of the cadets’ feat in October 1941 began in high school No. 4 of the city of Klimovsk Yiddish Misha Lev. In 1948, he published a book of memoirs “Partizanishe vegn” (“Partisan Paths”), which included the story “Cadets”. In 2015, the Moscow publishing house “Knizhniki” published the autobiographical story “A Candle is Burning in My Memory” by Mikhail Andreevich Lev.

Cadet ribbon

The “Cadet Ribbon” campaign started at the gymnasium named after. Podolsk cadets of the city of Klimovsk on April 27, 2013. The cadet ribbon is a symbol of memory of the feat of the Podolsk cadets. The “Cadet Ribbon” campaign is supported by the administrations of Podolsk and the Podolsk region, thus, the ribbons will be distributed throughout the entire territory of Podolia.

The cadet ribbon is a piece of satin fabric 25 cm long and 3.5 cm wide. The ribbon has 5 longitudinal alternating stripes of equal width - 3 light green and 2 red. At the ends of the ribbon are the abbreviations PPU and PAU (Podolsk Infantry School and Podolsk Artillery School), above them are the lapel insignia of the military branches - infantry and artillery.

The color scheme of the ribbon is based on the medal block of the memorial sign “Veteran of Podolsk Military Schools. October 1941", which was awarded to all Podolsk cadets.

Heraldic meaning of ribbon colors: green color- a symbol of hope, joy, youth. Red color is a symbol of bravery, courage, fearlessness, blood shed in battle.

The initiative to carry out the action and develop a commemorative ribbon belongs to the head of the museum of Podolsk cadets of the Klimovsk gymnasium, P. E. Krasnovid.

Medal "75 years of feat of Podolsk cadets"

October 3, 2016 All-Russian public organization of veterans Armed Forces The Russian Federation and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation established a commemorative medal dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the feat of the Podolsk cadets.

The medal is awarded to outstanding citizens of the country who have contributed to patriotic education youth. The front side of the medal depicts the Podolsk monument, which is located on Kirov Street.

Objects and events associated with the name and feat of Podolsk cadets

• In 1967, Podolsk Cadets Street (formerly 2nd Industrialnaya) appeared in Podolsk.
• In 1975, on May 7, a monument to cadets was erected in Podolsk, at the intersection of Kirova Street, Parkovaya Street and Archive Proezd. The next day, May 8, the opening of the monument and the lighting of the Eternal Flame took place in the village of Ilyinskoye. On the same day, the military-historical museum “Ilyinsky Frontiers” was opened in Ilyinsky.
• In 1985, on May 6, a monument to cadets was unveiled in Saransk. In the same year, on the day of the fortieth anniversary of the victory, the opening ceremony of the memorial also took place near the Warsaw Highway in the village of Kudinovo.
• In 1989, in Moscow, 2nd Dorozhny Proezd was renamed into Podolskiy Cadets Street. Maloyaroslavets district. .
• On September 29, 2016, the Council of Deputies of the Podolsk City District of the first convocation made a historic decision - to establish October 5 is the Day of Remembrance of Podolsk Cadets .
• On November 14, 2016, a package of documents was transferred to the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation on conferring the honorary title of the Russian Federation “City of Military Glory” on the city of Podolsk.

In culture and art

• In 1988, A. N. Pakhmutova wrote “Prelude in Memory of Podolsk Cadets,” which was included in the film epic “The Battle of Moscow.”
• The song of A. N. Pakhmutova and N. N. Dobronravov “You are my hope, you are my joy” performed by Lev Leshchenko (“..On the snowy plains, young cadets, immortality began, life ended..”) also became a memory for the cadets of Podolsk schools.

On October 5, 1941, Soviet aerial reconnaissance discovered a 25-kilometer German motorized column, which was moving at full speed along the Warsaw Highway in the direction of Yukhnov.

They had 198 kilometers left to Moscow.

200 tanks, 20 thousand infantry in vehicles, accompanied by aviation and artillery, posed a mortal threat to Moscow. There were no Soviet troops on this route. Only in Podolsk there were two military schools: infantry - PPU (head of the school, Major General Vasily Smirnov, number - 2000 cadets) and artillery - PAU (head of the school, Colonel Ivan Strelbitsky, number - 1,500 cadets). With the beginning of the war, Komsomol students from various universities were sent to schools. The 3-year program of study was reorganized into a six-month one. Many of the cadets only had time to study until September.

Head of the artillery school Strelbitsky. in his memoirs he later wrote: “There were quite a few among them who had never shaved, never worked, never traveled anywhere without dad and mom.” But this was the last reserve of the Headquarters in this direction, and it had no choice but to plug the giant gap that had formed in the defense of Moscow with the boys.

On October 5, about 2,000 cadets of the artillery and 1,500 cadets of the infantry schools were removed from classes, alerted and sent to the defense of Maloyaroslavets.

A hastily formed combined detachment of cadets removed from training on combat alert was given the task: to occupy the Ilyinsky combat sector of the Mozhaisk defense line of Moscow in the Maloyaroslavets direction and block the enemy’s path for 5-7 days until the General Headquarters reserves arrived from the depths of the country, recalls Chairman of the Council of Veterans of Podolsk Military Schools Nikolai Merkulov. - In order to prevent the enemy from occupying the Ilyinsky defensive sector first, an advance detachment of two companies was formed. He advanced to meet the enemy. At the crossing, the cadets met a group of our airborne troops led by Captain Storchak. They were dropped from an airplane to organize work partisan detachments behind German lines. Realizing how important it was to delay the Nazis at least for a few hours, Storchak ordered his paratroopers to unite with the cadets and take up defensive positions. For five days they held back the advance of superior enemy forces. During this time, 20 tanks, 10 armored vehicles were knocked out and about a thousand enemy soldiers and officers were destroyed. But the losses on our side were enormous. By the time they reached the area of ​​the village of Ilyinskoye, only 30-40 fighters remained in the cadet companies of the forward detachment.

At this time, the main cadet forces were deployed at the Ilyinsky line. They set up their training artillery pieces in pre-prepared pillboxes and took up defensive positions along a ten-kilometer front, with only three hundred men per kilometer. But these were not trained special forces soldiers, not samurai, who were brought up in a stern military spirit from childhood, these were ordinary boys who had just graduated from school.

On the morning of October 11, the cadets' positions were subjected to massive bombing and artillery shelling. After this, a column of German tanks and armored personnel carriers with infantry began moving towards the bridge at higher speed. But the Nazi attack was repulsed. The Germans, incomparably superior to the cadets in combat power and numbers, were defeated. They could neither reconcile nor understand what was happening.

In the afternoon of October 13, the Nazi tank column managed to bypass the 3rd battalion, reach the Warsaw Highway and attack the cadet positions from the rear. The Germans resorted to a trick; red flags were attached to the tanks, but the cadets discovered the deception. They turned their guns back. In a fierce battle, the tanks were destroyed.

The German command was furious; the Nazis could not understand how the elite SS troops were holding back just two schools, why their renowned soldiers, armed to the teeth, could not break through the defenses of these boys. They tried in every way to break the spirit of the cadets. They scattered leaflets over the positions with the following content: “Valiant red cadets, you fought courageously, but now your resistance has lost its meaning, the Warsaw highway is ours almost to Moscow, in a day or two we will enter it. You are real soldiers, we respect your heroism, come over to our side, with us you will receive a friendly welcome, delicious food and warm clothes. These leaflets will serve as your pass."

Not a single boy gave up! Wounded, exhausted, hungry, already fighting with captured weapons obtained in battle, they did not lose their presence of mind.

The situation in the Ilyinsky combat area was steadily deteriorating - the Germans brought down a barrage of artillery and mortar fire on our positions. The air force struck one blow after another. The defenders' forces were quickly dwindling; there were not enough shells, cartridges and grenades. By October 16, the surviving cadets had only five guns, and then with incomplete gun crews.

On the morning of October 16, the enemy launched a new powerful fire strike along the entire front of the Ilyinsky combat sector. The cadet garrisons in the remaining pillboxes and bunkers were shot by direct fire from tanks and cannons. The enemy slowly moved forward, but in his way was a camouflaged pillbox on the highway near the village of Sergeevka, commanded by the commander of the 4th PAU battery, Lieutenant A.I. Aleshkin. The crew of cadet Belyaev’s 45-mm training gun opened fire and knocked out several combat vehicles. The forces were unequal, and everyone understood this. Unable to storm the pillbox from the front, the Nazis attacked it from the rear in the evening and threw grenades through the embrasure. The heroic garrison was almost completely destroyed.

On the night of October 17, the command post of Podolsk schools moved to the location of the 5th PPU company in the village of Lukyanovo. On October 18, the cadets were subjected to new enemy attacks and by the end of the day the command post and the 5th company were cut off from the main forces defending Kudinovo. The commander of the combined detachment, General Smirnov, gathered the remnants of the 5th and 8th cadet companies and organized the defense of Lukyanovo. By the evening of October 19, an order to withdraw was received. But only on October 20, at night, did the cadets begin to leave the Ilyinsky line to join the army units occupying the defense on the Nara River. And from there, on October 25, the survivors set off on a march to the city of Ivanovo, where the Podolsk schools were temporarily transferred.

In the battles at the Ilyinsky combat site, Podolsk cadets destroyed up to 5 thousand German soldiers and officers and knocked out up to 100 tanks. They completed their task - they detained the enemy at the cost of their lives.

Amazingly, not a single Podolsk cadet was awarded for this feat!

They didn’t give awards back then, there was no time for us,” Nikolai Merkulov modestly recalls. - True, we later learned that the military council of the Moscow military district (it was then also the headquarters of the Mozhaisk defense line), by its order No. 0226 of November 3, 1941, declared gratitude to the survivors.

In the memory of the national feat of the Podolsk cadets, it occupies a worthy place. In their honor, on May 7, 1975, a monument was unveiled in Podolsk. It shows a diagram of the battle lines where the heroic cadets held the defense (the authors of the monument are sculptors Yu. Rychkov and A. Myamlin, architects L. Zemskov and L. Skorb).

Monuments were also erected in the village of Ilinskoye (at the sites of battles of Podolsk cadets) - opened on May 8, 1975, in the city of Saransk - opened on May 6, 1985, at the mass grave of cadets in the area of ​​the village of Detchino - opened on May 9, 1983.

Museums or rooms of military glory have been created: in the village of Ilyinsky, Maloyaroslavets district, Kaluga region, at the sites of cadets’ battles, in the Podolsk city military registration and enlistment office, in 16 secondary schools in the cities of Podolsk, Klimovsk, Obninsk, Balashikha, Orekhov-Zuev, Nizhny Novgorod, Zhukovsky, Naro-Fominsk, Tallinn, Malinovka village, Kemerovo region.

Installed memorial plaques on the building of the industrial technical school in the city of Podolsk, where the Podolsk Infantry School was located in 1941, on the entrance of the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense in the city of Podolsk, where the Podolsk Artillery School was located in 1941, on the building of the trade and economic technical school in the city of Bukhara, where since December 1941 Until 1944, the Podolsk Artillery School was located.

The name of Podolsk cadets was given to an electric train on the Moscow-Serpukhov route, a secondary school in the city of Klimovsk, secondary schools in the cities of Podolsk, Obninsk, the village of Shchapovo, the village of Ilinskoye, streets, squares and parks in the cities of Podolsk, Bukhara, Maloyaroslavets, Yoshkar-Ola, Moscow, Saransk.

The feat of the cadets is reflected in the films “If your home is dear to you”, “Battle for Moscow” (2nd part), “Last reserve of the rate”, in stories, documentary books, poetic and musical works such as “Undefeated cadets” (N Zuev, B. Rudakov, A. Golovkin), “Frontiers” (Rimma Kazakova), Cantata about Podolsk cadets (Alexandra Pakhmutova), songs “Tale of Podolsk cadets”, “At the crossing”, “Aleshkinsky pillbox” (Olga Berezovskaya) and others.

Classes: 8 , 9

Presentation for the lesson

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Attention! Slide previews are for informational purposes only and may not represent all the features of the presentation. If you are interested this work, please download the full version.

The story about the feat of the Podolsk cadets is accompanied by presentation with photographs of chronicles and monuments of the events described (Presentation 1).

Reader (slide 1):

The bayonets turned white from the cold,
The snow shimmered blue.
We put on our overcoats for the first time
They fought harshly near Moscow.
Mustacheless, almost like children,
We knew in that furious year
That there is no one in the world instead of us
He will not die for this city.

1 presenter: This year our country celebrates the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Moscow. The Battle of Moscow was not just a battle for the capital of a great country, but also a turning point in the course of the Great Patriotic War. This was the first victory of the Soviet people, but it was not easy.

2 presenter: Fascist invaders wanted to wipe Moscow off the face of the earth. “At a meeting at the headquarters of Army Group Center in the fall of 1941, Hitler declared that the city should be surrounded so that not a single Russian soldier, not a single resident - be it a man, woman or child - could leave it. Any attempt to leave suppress by force." Hitler planned to flood Moscow. The plan for the attack on Moscow was called “Typhoon”: this was how the crushing power of the impending onslaught was emphasized. Against the Western, Reserve and Bryansk fronts, which defended the Moscow direction, the enemy concentrated more than 74 divisions, of which 14 were tank and 8 were motorized. The enemy outnumbered our troops by 1.4 times in personnel, by 1.7 times in tanks, by 1.8 times in guns and mortars, and by 2 times in aircraft.

Presenter 3 (slide 2): Our troops were retreating. At the beginning of October, enemy troops managed to break through the front line and encircle our units near Bryansk and Vyazma. The road to Moscow was open. Then all spare parts, air defense units and military school cadets were transferred to defend the capital. Among them were Podolsk cadets. They were sent near the city of Yukhnov to help the parachute detachment, commanded by Major Ivan Starchak. With just over 400 fighters, he blew up a bridge on the Ugra River and took up defensive positions on the Warsaw Highway. The advanced units of the 57th motorized corps of the German invaders were approaching them.

4 presenter: On October 5 at 5.30 am the Germans occupied the city of Yukhnov. There were 190 km left to Moscow. A tank can cover this distance in a few hours. The cadets of two Podolsk military schools were alerted - artillery (about 1,500 people) and infantry (about 2,000 people). The cadets of the Podolsk schools were reservists and students - Komsomol members. Some of them only managed to study for one month. The task was to delay the enemy until the rest of the troops arrived. According to the recollections of one of the participants in the hostilities, when Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov arrived at the position, he addressed the cadets, “Children, hold out for at least 5 days!”

Watching a fragment from the film "Battle of Moscow" (meeting with Zhukov). The fragment is launched on click from slide 3.

5 presenter (slide 4): The remnants of the paratroopers (about 40 people), the remnants of the tank brigade (2 tanks) and the advanced units of the cadets, left practically without guns and ammunition, retreated to the Ilyinsky lines. They occupied lines in Ilyinsky, Kudinovo and neighboring villages. In the Ilyinsky area they managed to build 38 artillery and infantry pillboxes. Anti-tank ditches, trenches, and communication passages were dug. The pillboxes were already filled, but not completed - they were planned to be completed only on November 25.

1 presenter (slide 5): At Ilyinsky, German troops had to delay, despite their numerical and technical superiority, as well as the support of aviation and artillery. Every day began with heavy shelling. The slopes in front of the pillboxes were plowed up by explosions, and anti-tank ditches were destroyed. Having attached red flags to their tanks, the Nazis tried to bypass the lines so that they would be mistaken for our approaching units. Fortunately, the German tanks were identified and the attack was repulsed.

Presenter 2 (slide 6): The situation was getting worse. Cadet of the 6th company Ivan Makukha recalls: “With their tanks, the enemy approached 50 meters to the embrasures and shot the bunker garrisons at point-blank range, and all the defenders of the bunker of the 8th company were destroyed. The pillboxes were destroyed and occupied by enemy infantry.”

3 presenter (slide 7): From a combat report dated October 16, 1941: “: upon leaving Podolsk we did not receive hot food. Up to 40% of the artillery was disabled by the fire of machine gunners, grenade launchers and artillery. Heavy 152-mm artillery was left without shells. The evacuation of the wounded and the supply of ammunition and household supplies have been stopped." But the cadets continued to hold on.

4 presenter: On October 16, the Germans bypassed the defense from the south and partially surrounded the cadets. On October 17, tanks went on the attack. There was nothing to fight with them. The command decided to let the tanks through and hold off the infantry. The infantry was thrown back. The tanks advanced to Maloyaroslavets, but soon returned. The next day the order was given to retreat.

5 presenter: The Germans were detained for 2 weeks. During this time, a continuous line of fortifications along the Nara River was formed. About 100 tanks and about 5,000 German soldiers and officers were destroyed. Operation Typhoon was disrupted. In addition, it began to rain, preventing the advance of fascist tanks along rural roads.

1 presenter: Of the cadets, only every tenth survived. They were sent to finish their studies in Ivanovo. Most of the dead could not be identified. They are still listed as missing. And no awards were given back then. The time was like this:

Presenter 2 (slide 8): It is believed that a hero must be born. But here, “out of 3,000 boys, no one chickened out. They held the defense for ten kilometers, practically without weapons. None of them gave up. These were not trained special forces, not samurai, who are brought up from childhood in a stern military spirit, these were ordinary schoolchildren who have just finished school."

3 presenter (slide 9): Lieutenant General of Artillery I. Strelbitsky, head of one of the Podolsk schools, wrote: “I had the opportunity to see quite a few attacks. More than once I myself had to experience the moment when from a trench, which at that moment seems to be the most safe place, you rise to your full height towards the unknown. I saw how recruits and experienced warriors go on the attack. One way or another, but everyone thinks about one thing: to win and survive! But those cadets:.

I didn’t see exactly that attack, but a few days later I fought with these guys shoulder to shoulder and went on the attack with them. Neither before nor after have I seen anything like it. Hiding from bullets? Looking back at your comrades? But everyone has one thing on their lips: “For Moscow!”

They went on the attack as if they had been waiting for this very moment all their previous lives. It was their holiday, their celebration. They rushed, swift, - nothing could stop them! - without fear, without looking back. Even if there were few of them, it was a storm, a hurricane, capable of sweeping everything out of its path: "

Reader (slide 10):

From the silver screen
And from the TV screen
This is already the fifth
Ten years
The guys are watching
Those who left early
Friends,
There is no replacement for them.
Tenth graders.
Fire release.
Photo in June
In the schoolyard.
Bangs, braids,
Shirts untucked.
The world wide open:
And the fight is in October.

Presenter 3: This poem was written by one of the surviving cadets. 400 of them returned to Podolsk.

4 presenter (slide 11): The feat of the Podolsk cadets will forever remain in the memory of grateful descendants.

A minute of silence (slide 12 with the image of the eternal flame, “Requiem” sounds).

Information sources.

1. "Ilyinsky lines"
2. Melikhova I. "Who are the Podolsk cadets" http://shkolazhizni.ru/archive/0/n-28989/
3. Mikhalkina Larisa Gennadievna "History lesson in class on the topic of the Battle of Moscow", September 1, festival " Public lesson", teaching history.