October 10
The Kalinin defensive operation of the right wing troops began Western Front against the German fascist troops.
October 12
The deep breakthrough of the formations of the 3rd German tank group between Sychevka and Vyazma and the exit of one motorized corps to the rear of the armies of the right wing of the Western Front forced Soviet command remove the 29th Army from the front and deploy it along the left bank of the Volga to cover the Rzhev group from the southeast. By order of the Headquarters, seven rifle divisions were withdrawn from the army of the right wing of the front to transfer them to the Mozhaisk defense line and to the Kalinin region.
October 14
The troops of the Western Front abandoned the city of Kalinin. Immediately after the capture of the city, formations of the 3rd German Tank Group tried to develop an offensive on Torzhok and go to the rear of the troops of the North-Western Front, but were rebuffed by the operational group of the North-Western Front N.F. Vatutina.
17 October
The Kalinin Front was created from the troops of the right wing of the Western Front (22, 29 and 30 armies) and the group of Lieutenant General N.F. Vatutin, led by Colonel General I.S. Konev. Corps Commissar D.S. was appointed a member of the Front Military Council. Leonov, chief of staff I.I. Ivanov.
According to the instructions of the Troop Headquarters Kalinin Front launched a counterattack on the enemy's 41st motorized corps, which was trying to break through from the Kalinin area to Torzhok, to the rear of the troops of the North-Western Front, and threw it back to its original position. The 8th distinguished itself in battles tank brigade Colonel P.A. Rotmistrov, staffed by Leningrad volunteer workers.
The 21st separate tank brigade made a heroic raid from the area of the village of Turginovo in the direction of Kalinin. 27 T-34 tanks and 8 T-60 tanks headed for Kalinin, but encountered heavy fire from anti-tank guns and were subjected to continuous bombardment from the air. Only 8 tanks reached the southern outskirts of Kalinin, and only the T-34 tank under the command of Senior Sergeant S. Gorobets broke into the city and carried out a legendary raid on the city. He appeared from the direction of "Proletarka", walked through the city, fired at the commandant's office, caused a commotion among the Germans and went back to his troops.
During the day of battle, the brigade's forces destroyed up to 38 tanks, about 70 guns and mortars, 170 vehicles, and up to 500 enemy soldiers and officers.
October 19
From the evening message of the Sovinformburo; “In all areas of the Kalinin region captured by the Germans, partisan detachments are actively operating. Their number is growing every day. Tens and hundreds of workers and employees of enterprises and institutions, hundreds of collective farmers join partisan detachments and, not sparing their lives, fight the fascist invaders.”
The 20th of October
From the morning message of the Sovinformburo: “Our unit, operating in one of the sections of the Kalinin direction, destroyed 17 German tanks, 30 vehicles with ammunition and 15 vehicles with fascist infantry. In another section of the Kalinin direction, on October 18, about three hundred German vehicles were destroyed, of which more than 200 vehicles with infantry and about 100 vehicles with fuel and ammunition.”
October 30
From the morning message of the Sovinformburo: “In the battles in the area of Kalinin, our units were captured large group German soldiers. Extensive correspondence found among prisoners shows growing discontent masses Germany war against Soviet Union»
October 31
From a morning message from the Sovinformburo: “In one of the sections of the Kalinin direction, a long-range battery under the command of Lieutenant Belikov destroyed an enemy airfield, destroying 14 enemy aircraft.”
Nov. 1
By this day, 56 partisan detachments with a total number of 1,724 people were operating in the occupied areas of the region.
November 5
From the morning message of the Sovinformburo: “One of our units, operating on the Kalinin Front, in one day of fighting destroyed 15 German tanks, 10 armored vehicles, 13 guns, several mortar batteries and about 600 enemy soldiers and officers.”
November 7
The Military Council of the Kalinin Front awarded military orders and medals to 88 tank crews of the 8th Tank Brigade.
November 17
From the evening message of the Sovinformburo: “...Particularly fierce battles took place on Kalininsky and one of the sectors of the Southwestern Front.”
“In one of the sections of the Kalinin direction of the front, our scouts discovered 20 corpses of German soldiers behind enemy lines. As it turned out from the testimony of prisoners, these German soldiers were shot for refusing to go on the offensive. Captured fascists report that within a month, over 280 soldiers deserted from the 253rd and 102nd infantry divisions. Recently an order was read to all units German command. The order stated that every soldier who fell behind his unit for any reason would be considered a deserter and would be shot if caught...”
November 25
From the evening message of the Sovinformburo: “Parts of comrade. Maslennikov, in 10 days of fighting, destroyed 38 enemy tanks, 19 guns, 19 mortars, 230 motorcycles and captured 5 enemy tanks, 10 guns, 32 vehicles, 116 motorcycles and 53 machine guns.”
December 4
The Kalinin defensive operation of the troops of the Kalinin and Western Fronts against the German troops of the 9th Army and the 3rd Tank Group was completed. By the end of the operation, the enemy was stopped at the line north settlements Selizharovo, Chernogubovo, Mishutino, Moshki, Volyntsevo, northern outskirts of Kalinin, Yuryevskoye.
5th of December
Kalininskaya has begun offensive(12/5/1941-01/7/1942) troops of the Kalinin Front against the troops of the left wing of Army Group Center, which marked the beginning of the counteroffensive Soviet troops in the battle of Moscow. The front was supposed to strike at the enemy's 9th Army, liberate Kalinin and go to the rear of the troops operating against the Western Front.
December 7
The 29th Army of the Kalinin Front, having attacked the enemy southwest of Kalinin, crossed the Volga here on the ice and wedged itself into the enemy defenses.
9th December
The 31st Army of the Kalinin Front, after three days of stubborn fighting, broke through the enemy defenses on the Volga south of Kalinin, reached the Koltsovo, Mozzharino, Chupriyanovka, Koromyslovo line, and cut the Kalinin-Turginovo road.
December 13th
Formations of the 29th Army (commanded by Major General V.I. Shvetsov) and the 31st Army (commanded by Major General V.A. Yushkevich) entered the retreat route of the Kalinin group of Germans. The garrison of fascist troops in Kalinin was asked to capitulate.
December 16
At dawn, from the Negotino area, the retreating enemy was hit troops of the 31st Army, 252nd Division of the 29th Army attacked the enemy north of the village Danilovskoe. By three o'clock the 243rd Division of the 29th Army occupied northern part Kalinina. By 11 o'clock the right-flank units of the 256th division burst into the city. By 13:00 the city was completely liberated from German troops. This was the first liberated regional center.
“IN THE FINAL HOUR. ANOTHER STRIKE ON THE ENEMY'S TROOPS. After fierce fighting, the troops of the Kalinin Front captured the city of Kalinin. In the battles near the city of Kalinin, our troops inflicted major defeat 9 German army Colonel General Strauss, defeating the 86, 110, 129, 161 and 251 infantry divisions that were part of this army. The remnants of the defeated enemy divisions retreat to the west. In the battles for the city of Kalinin, the troops of Lieutenant General Comrade Maslennikov and Major General Comrade Yushkevich distinguished themselves. Large trophies have been captured and are being counted. Our troops pursue and destroy the retreating enemy. SOVINFORMBURO."
December 17
“TROPHIES OF OUR TROOPS WHEN THE CAPTURE OF THE CITY OF KALININ. When taking the city of Kalinin, according to preliminary and incomplete data, the troops of the Kalinin Front captured the following trophies from the Germans: guns of various calibers - 190, of which 4 heavy twelve-inch ones, tanks - 31, aircraft - 9, vehicles - about 1,000, mortars - 160, machine guns - 303, machine guns - 292, bicycles - 1,300, motorcycles - 47, rifles - 4,500, shells - 21,000, mines - 12,500, cartridges - over 500,000, radios - 18, battle flags - 4. In addition, two ammunition depots, a warehouse with uniforms, carts, cables and much other military equipment. The trophy count continues. In the battles in the Kalinin area, the Germans lost more than 10,000 soldiers and officers alone. SOVINFORMBURO."
December 18
A red flag was solemnly raised on Lenin Square in Kalinin.
The first took place after liberation regional center meeting of the city committee of the CPSU.
27th of December
“TROPHIES OF THE KALININ FRONT TROOPS FOR THE PERIOD FROM DECEMBER 17 TO 27. In battles with the German occupiers, the troops of the Kalinin Front from December 17 to 27 captured the following trophies: tanks and tankettes - 103, armored vehicles - 6, guns of various calibers - 180, machine guns = 267, machine guns - 135, mortars - 86, flamethrowers, rifles - 659, cars - 1323, motorcycles - 348, bicycles - 213, airplanes - 8, radio stations - 6, carts -115, horses - 130, shells - 12200, mines of various calibers - over 8300, rifle cartridges -778480, grenades - 1270 and other military property.
During the same period, 38 tanks, up to 20 guns, 75 machine guns, 400 vehicles, 23 motorcycles, 295 wagons with cargo and other military equipment were destroyed.”
A bathhouse opened in the city of Kalinin.
December 30th
At the Kalinin House of the Red Army, orders and medals were presented to soldiers and commanders who distinguished themselves in the battles for Kalinin.
Bibliography
Messages Soviet information bureau. T.1: June - December 1941 - M.: [Type. gas "Pravda" named after. Stalin], 1944. - 456 p.
Chronological information about the military operations of the Red Army in the defense and liberation of the city of Kalinin in 1941 / comp. P.F. Anisimov. - Tver: TSTU, 2000. - 208 p.
Boshnyak Yu.M. Kalinin operational direction in the battle of Moscow: military history. essay / Yu.M. Boshnyak, D.D. Slezkin, N.A. Yakimansky // On the right flank of the Moscow battle. - M.: Moscow. worker, 1991. - P. 7-60.
Brief chronicle events // Pages of national feat. – M., 1974. – P. 287-293.
Chronicle of the battles for Kalinin // Political agitation. - 1981. - No. 21-22. - P. 28, 31, 34, 39,41, 54, 57-58.
Khetchikov M.D. Defensive and counter-offensive operations carried out in 1941 on Tver land // M.D. Khetchikov; Tver. region society Memor support fund. complex of glory to Siberian warriors. - Tver: Communications. company, 2010. - 158 pp.: map.
Khetchikov M.D. Military glory of the Kalinin battles of 1941. - Tver: Pyramid XXI century, 2009. - 54 p.: map.
Kalinin defensive operation [ Electronic resource] // Wikipedia. - Access mode: http://ru.wikipedia.org/Kalinin_defensive operation
Kalinin Front [Electronic resource] // Wikipedia. - Access mode: http://ru.wikipedia.org/w/Kalinsky_front
Defense of Kalinin [Electronic resource] // Wikipedia. - Access mode: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Kalinina
Occupation of Kalinin [Electronic resource] // Wikipedia. - Access mode:
The Germans stayed in Kalinin for sixty-three days, from October 14 to December 16, 1941. This is one of the most tragic pages in the history of my hometown.
During my work as a journalist, I had to talk with older native Kalinin residents more than once or twice.
Stories about the war, about the occupation, about the losses of relatives and friends remained the most significant events in the lives of each of them. Always. The only way. Everything else paled in comparison to what he experienced during the war.
The history of the occupation of the city has never been written. Of course, there are archives that you can look into fifty years from now. Maybe it’s even better - everything will be digitized and the researcher won’t have to swallow archival dust.
But living witnesses of the era will gradually leave. As some of my interlocutors, about whom I once wrote as part of the large series “Tver Saga,” have already left.
I don't have the answer to these questions...
Kalinin's liberation day is celebrated on December 16th. Until this period, I will try to post materials about the war, heroes and ordinary people, about the occupation.
I hope they pique your interest.
For residents of the city of Kalinin, October 14, 1941 is perhaps the most tragic day in the history of the already cruel twentieth century.
On this day, fascist German troops, moving from the east, reached the outskirts of the city in the Migalov area and gradually occupied the entire city.
Thus began the occupation, which lasted 63 days.
Not much, some might say.
But those who remained under occupation civilians could not know when it would end. They experienced hunger, cold, and most importantly, mortal fear of the new government.
Some people did not survive the occupation, dying from unbearable living conditions or new government. Gallows became part of the Kalinin landscape. Executions and arrests are commonplace. It was forbidden to walk around the city freely, you needed a pass, and the curfew began at 16.00.
Everyone who survived the occupation or was evacuated considers this period the most significant in their lives. All conversations of Tver residents about the past sooner or later come down to this topic. But it was not always so. Long time being in an occupied city was considered a shameful blot on a person’s biography. Now you can remember everything. But how many people are left in Tver who remember the occupation? The word is for those who can tell about tragic events the end of 1941.
Inna Georgievna Bunina,
in 1941 - 9 years:
On June 22, 1941, my mother gave birth to twins, Vera and Kolya. My father went to the front almost that same day; he was a surgeon.
In the second ten days of October, the evacuation of city residents began.
We then lived in house number 10 on Vagzhanova Street, in the so-called Krepzov house, from the windows of our apartment the exodus of residents from the city was clearly visible. To the command staff the vehicles on which they loaded their belongings, furniture, even tubs of ficus trees stood out.
Ordinary people left on foot, taking with them only hand luggage; the wounded in bloody bandages, many on crutches, women with children, and old people walked along the sides of the street. It was a terrible picture.
By the evening of October 14, motorcycles with Germans appeared on the street, followed by tanks. They entered a practically empty city.
My mother refused to evacuate. There was nowhere to go, and how could you go? Besides me and the tiny twins, the family included grandparents, already elderly people.
So we remained, as they said then, under the Germans. The shops were closed and there was nowhere to get food. Mom went to the field behind what is now Gagarin Square, where frozen cabbage could be found, and to the elevator for burnt grain.
It was very cold, we all lived in the same room, heating the only stove-potbelly stove.
Thus passed two long months of occupation.
It is bitter to remember that the liberation of the city by Soviet troops brought new troubles to our family.
Mom was accused of collaborating with the occupiers and was arrested.
She was placed in city prison No. 1, which is not far from our house.
The twins were crying from hunger. Once a day, the mother was allowed to feed them; for this purpose, the grandmother took the children to prison on a sled.
My grandmother wrote to my father about my mother’s arrest, he came from the front and secured her release.
Mom was again admitted to KREPZ, where she long years headed the chemical laboratory.
But her stay in the occupation remained a black spot in her biography.
After the Victory, the father returned from the front unharmed, and the mother once again gave birth to twins, again they were a boy and a girl.
Elena Ivanovna Reshetova,
in 1941 - 16 years old:
On the afternoon of October 13, I was visiting my aunt on Mednikovskaya Street, in the very center of Kalinin.
When we were told that the enemy was already approaching the city, I went home to the village of Andreevskoye, near the village of Sakharovo, beyond Tvertsa.
We tried not to leave home. Who knew that our village would be almost on the front line?
Red Army units marched down the street every day. Red Army soldiers spent the night in the huts, about twenty people in each hut. They seemed to me like boys not much older than me. In some houses there was not enough space to lie down, sometimes there was nowhere to sit, and the soldiers stood all night like horses.
The next morning they went to the front line, to the banks of the Volga. The fighting took place in the area of Konstantinovka, Savvatyev, and Poddubye.
Our units stormed the high opposite bank. Our soldiers were clearly visible from the heights; the Germans shot them almost point-blank.
Few people returned. The dead were buried in a mountain near Andreevsky.
Every day new wounded were brought in. Until a hospital was opened in Sakharov, the soldiers lay in cold sheds and moaned.
We helped them as best we could, tried not to cry and not think about our fighting fathers, husbands, brothers.
Nina Ivanovna Kashtanova,
in 1941 - 15 years:
My father, Ivan Timofeevich Krutov, fought in Finnish war and returned badly wounded. There were five children in our family, I was the eldest.
In October 1941, we went on foot to evacuate, settled in the Rameshkovsky district, in a Karelian family, from there my father was called to the front, we never saw him again, in March 1942 a funeral came from near Rzhev.
The owners treated us well, gave us milk and cottage cheese. But still I was hungry.
My mother, Anna Arkhipovna, walked around the yards begging to feed us. In the evening she returned, putting out loaves of bread, boiled eggs, potatoes, and pieces of porridge from a canvas bag.
We had been looking forward to this moment all day. On the sixteenth of December, the foreman ran into the hut and shouted: “Kalininskys, rejoice! The city has been liberated!”
But we did not return to Kalinin soon. I was the first to return, at the end of January. I walked for three days, spending the night in villages.
Our house on 1st Begovaya, fortunately, survived, although there was no glass in it, and the stars were shining through the roof. But many of our friends had housing in worse condition.
On the very first day after my return, I went in search of work, without which they would not give ration cards for bread.
But there was no work: the enterprises were standing still, workers were needed only to clear the rubble, where they didn’t take me, still 16 years old.
I was lucky to get a job as a courier at the Proletarsky District Komkhoz. This made it possible to receive a card for 400 grams of bread per day. I always wanted to eat, constantly.
In those days, people were imprisoned for fraud with cards without a second thought. In our house management, several women paid the price in this way: they were given 10 years in camps.
Galina Anatolyevna Nikolaeva,
in 1941 - 18 years old:
Before the war, I lived with my mother and younger sister Augusta at the Kulitskaya station, where my mother worked at a school.
Six months before the start of the war, my mother died, and my 15-year-old sister and I were left alone.
In June 1941, I received a matriculation certificate and submitted documents to the pedagogical institute. I was enrolled as a student, but I did not have time to start classes.
The occupation began. My sister and I spent the entire two months in the teachers’ dormitory on Kulitskaya.
At the end of December, I went on foot to liberated Kalinin. The city was in ruins.
What scared me most was the sight German cemetery on Revolution Square. Corpses were piled vertically into shallow graves. They froze and swayed in the wind, creaking disgustingly.
I walked to Mednikovskaya Street, where our relatives lived. My aunt and sister met me there, frightened but unharmed. They talked about terrible death our father's sister, Nadya Akhmatova.
Before the war, Nadya was considered a disgrace to the family. She worked as a cashier either in the city garden or in the bathhouse, met with different men.
With the beginning of the war, Nadya became a scout for the 31st Army and crossed the front line many times. One day she was captured and ended up in the Gestapo, where she was tortured for a long time. Nadya's mutilated body was found after the liberation of the city.
Classes soon began at the pedagogical institute. I started studying, but quickly realized that I could not withstand constant hunger.
Bread was given on ration cards, and sour cabbage was given in the institute canteen. Old men kept coming up to the tables and begging the students to leave at least some food. With horror and shame, I recognized my own in one of the beggars. school teacher German language Maria Vasilievna.
Soon I left the institute, at school on Kulitskaya they gave me a direction to Vyshny Volochek, for a 6-month teaching course, after which I went to teach in the village of Pogoreloe Gorodishche.
At the same time, my sister Gutya entered the Likhoslavl Pedagogical School, but due to constant malnutrition she fell ill with tuberculosis and died.
My father, who lived separately from us, in Staritsa, was arrested following a denunciation. His further fate unknown to me.
Zoya Evgenievna Zimina,
in 1941 – 17 years old:
Before the war, my mother, Nadezhda Ivanovna Baranova, worked as a secretary in the Hospital Town, for the famous Tver doctor Uspensky.
We lived not far from the hospital, on Sofia Perovskaya Street.
When the Germans were already approaching Kalinin, my mother was preparing hospital documents, so we did not have time to evacuate.
It’s not far from our house to the Old Bridge over the Volga, but when we ran to cross to the other side, it was already too late.
The city was heavily shelled, our house burned down in a fire. We only managed to pull out a few blankets.
Fortunately, before the Germans arrived, my mother put the candy into a large tin can. family photos, which she treasured very much, and buried them in the garden, so they survived.
During the occupation, we were given shelter by relatives living on Smolensky Lane. I remember hunger, cold and fear of the unknown.
My mother’s sisters waited out the occupation in Kashin, but it was not much better there. They returned scary, exhausted, and covered in lice. Aunt Masha soon died from illness.
Antonina Nikolaevna Bradis,
in 1941 - 16 years old:
On October 13, a high-explosive bomb fell near the house on Volny Novgorod Street where our family lived. She broke the glass in the windows, killed two neighbors and concussed me.
These were the days of mass exodus of residents from the city. Those who survived them will never forget panic fear, which covered the entire population of Kalinin. Tens of thousands of people fled wherever they could from the approaching German troops.
Our family - father, mother, me and my younger sister walked hundreds of kilometers to the city of Uglich.
There we managed to board a barge. Before our eyes, a German plane bombed another barge, and it sank with all its passengers. It was very scary, but we saw no other way out but to sail into the unknown. The barge sailed along the Volga until the ice set in (in 1941, winter came very early; already in mid-October there were real winter frosts).
We settled in the Mari Republic. My father, a shoemaker by profession, quickly found a job. In Kalinin, my mother worked as a store director, then as the head of a cooperative insurance office, and during the evacuation she managed to get a job sorting vegetables in a vegetable storehouse. I also went to work and was hired at a factory producing military skis.
We returned home only in the spring, on the same barge. Kalinin was found in ruins. Fortunately, the family home survived.
But I didn’t see many of my classmates at school and the kids from the yard anymore. Zhenya Inzer, Zhenya Karpov, Yura Ivanov, Zhenya Logunov, all boys from our 22nd, now 16th school, died.
They remained in the occupied city, fought as best they could against the enemies, and died. They were given out by Zhenya Karpova's housemate. He lived with his mother in house number 9 on Stepan Razin embankment. U underground group there was a meeting place. The Germans took away my wife’s mother Maria Efimovna along with the children. They were tortured for a long time, and then they were all killed; the bodies were found after the liberation of the city.
At the end of the war, I went to Moscow and entered VGIK, All-Union state institute cinematography.
I lived in the hostel with Nonna Mordyukova, Inna Makarova, Sergei Bondarchuk, Evgeny Morgunov, Lyalya Shagalova. All of them played in Sergei Gerasimov’s film “The Young Guard”.
When the film was released across the country, deafening fame fell on my friends, and letters were brought to the hostel by the sack.
The audience identified the young actors with the dead heroes.
But the guys from my hometown were never recognized as heroes.
Their feat did not receive as much fame as their peers from the Krasnodon Young Guard, but for me they are forever heroes.
From our 22nd school, dozens of boys and girls fought. Many died.
Yura Mikhailov died in December 1941 near Volokolamsk.
Kolya Tumanov was a sniper who died in 1944.
Yura Shutkin, a nurse, went missing.
Sasha Komkov was not accepted into the army because of his age; he joined a partisan detachment, then was mobilized and died in East Prussia.
Volodya Moshnin, a demolition saboteur, went missing.
Yura Pasteur, clever, poet, was killed in 1943.
Slava Urozhaev died near Leningrad.
Lev Belyaev served in the navy and died from his wounds.
Lida Vasilyeva spent the entire war on an evacuation train, often donated blood for the wounded, and died in 1950 from illness.
Rosa Ivchenko was a scout partisan detachment. I went to Kalinin many times across the front line to collect intelligence. After the war, she sold pies at the station, like in the film “War Romance.” She got married and gave birth to two children.
Volodya Zaitsev, the youngest of us, also survived. At the age of 13 he was already a scout. His sister Tonya served as a radio operator and died.
Of all our guys long life only me and Volodya Zaitsev got...
During the liberation of the city, over 20 thousand Red Army soldiers died. During the 63 days of occupation, 7,714 buildings and 510 thousand square meters were destroyed in the city. meters of housing (more than half of the housing stock), over 70 enterprises were put out of service.
Until March 3, 1943 (the day of the liberation of Rzhev), Kalinin remained a front-line city and was subjected to systematic raids German aviation.
After the liberation of Kalinin, residents began to return to their destroyed homes.
But they had to solve not only everyday problems. The power that abandoned civilians at the mercy of fate in front of the approaching enemy, she now decided who could live in the city and who was not worthy of it.
On January 7, 1942, a decision was made by the executive committee of the Kalinin Regional Council of Workers' Deputies “On the registration of the population in Kalinin and the standard of living space.”
This decision prescribed a new registration of citizens from January 15 to February 1, 1942.
Registration was denied to family members of traitors and traitors to the Motherland who fled with the Germans; those who have served imprisonment for crimes provided for by a number of articles of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, including Article 58; those who worked during the occupation in institutions and in any kind of work; who had contact with the Germans, for example, attending meetings, parties, banquets, etc. The latter category included mainly young women and girls.
Family members of persons arrested after December 15, 1941 were also not registered. For registration, a reduced living space standard of 4.5 square meters was established. meters so that it is possible to resettle citizens who have lost their housing due to its destruction.
History of the occupation of Kalinin during the Great Patriotic War still not written.
IN to a greater extent researched military unit this period - how the city was left to the enemy, how it was liberated.
What happened in the occupied city, how people lived who had no means of subsistence and no knowledge of their future, historians are still not very interested in.
I want to believe that true story occupation, based on documents and memories of the people who lived through it, will still be created and will be read by people who know the occupation firsthand.
To be continued
The date December 5, 1941 is considered significant for the entire history of the Great Patriotic War. It was on this day that the Red Army's counteroffensive began near Moscow. broad front– from Kalinin to Yelets.
During the counteroffensive near the capital, the left wing of the front under the command of USSR Marshal Ivan Konev struck a strong beat Field Marshal Bock's army in the Kalinin direction. Such decisive offensive from Soviet army The Nazis did not expect it. As a result of heavy fighting, which lasted more than 10 days, Kalinin was released.
– The battles for Kalinin took place on the flanks – in the west and in the east. The outskirts of the city were in our hands, the center was in the hands of the Nazis,” says Svetlana Gerasimova, chief researcher at the Tver State United Museum.
Fierce fighting took place in the suburbs of the regional center in the areas of Emmaus, Gorokhovo, Chupriyanovka, Kuzminsky, in Maly and Bolshoi Peremerki. Riflemen and cavalry divisions, two tank battalions, two artillery regiments and two divisions rocket artillery, three ski battalions. “The German garrison began to leave the city on December 15 along Staritsky Highway,” adds Svetlana Gerasimova. “But before they left, the Germans blew up all the bridges and many buildings.”
The head of the club of veterans of the Russian Armed Forces, Vladimir Mitrofanov, says that he saw the enemy retreat with his own eyes.
“I witnessed how the Germans galloped towards the Staritskoye Highway, which could be blocked for them at any moment. They harnessed all the horses. On our street ( Borikhino Field. – Red. ) a German iron truck slid into a ditch. In order not to delay for a minute, the soldiers cut off the harness and took the horses. The cart remained and with it almost a dozen bags of good wheat flour, which were quickly taken apart local residents. Our family also got a little, about half a bag,” admits Mitrofanov.
The Soviet Information Bureau reported that during the liberation of Kalinin, the Germans captured: 190 guns of various calibers, 31 tanks, 9 aircraft, about 1000 vehicles, as well as 4 battle flags. Losses in enemy manpower are estimated at more than 10,000 soldiers and officers.
The symbol of the liberation of Kalinin was the banner that the Red Army men hoisted on the roof of the current Officers' House. This happened in the afternoon of December 16, 1941.
The next day, Konstantin Simonov visited Kalinin on an editorial assignment. He described those impressions in his front-line diaries: “I walked down the street and started talking to people. Many women were crying. A kind of joyful confusion reigned in our hearts. Even before yesterday, people did not fully believe that the Germans could be defeated and driven out of here... They poured out into the street, they talked to each other, the women sobbed, the boys hung on military vehicles.”
According to Simonov’s recollections, in Kalinin “quite a few houses were burned, many houses were damaged and burned due to bombing.” After the Nazis fled, not a single undamaged stone building remained in the city center.
– Ancient buildings burned down on Sovetskaya Square, Lenin Square, blocks along the Volga in the area of modern Studenchesky Lane, Radishchev Boulevard, Svobodny Lane. Neighborhoods in nearby Zavlozhye were almost completely destroyed,” Pavel Ivanov, coordinator of the Tver Vaults city protection project, lists the damage inflicted on Kalinin. – Seriously injured Imperial Palace. The bomb hit right in the center, pierced the upper ceiling and damaged the vestibule. As a result, two thirds of the palace burned down.
Historians agree that main task During the retreat, the Germans destroyed the Old Bridge. That is why areas located slightly away from the city center were practically unaffected.
“The Meshchanskaya Sloboda, which included Mednikovskaya, Serebryannaya and neighboring streets, remained completely intact,” clarifies Pavel Ivanov. – The same situation has developed in Zamachye. Small losses were observed mainly in the area of the modern Victory Obelisk and on the Krasnoflotskaya embankment. Almost unharmed Train Station. True, its main attraction - the famous dome, which served as an exhaust pipe - was destroyed.
Industrial buildings suffered serious losses. The Germans burned and destroyed more than 70 enterprises: a carriage factory, a cotton mill, a mechanical plant, flour mills and many others. Utility infrastructure was damaged: water supply, sewerage, telegraph and telephone networks were not functioning. According to the data of the Kalinin Regional Commission for the Identification and Investigation of Atrocities Nazi invaders", the total damage caused national economy city, exceeded 1.5 billion rubles.
But, despite all this destruction, the main thing was done - on December 16, 1941, Soviet troops liberated Kalinin. Already on the morning of December 17, the townspeople saw a completely peaceful announcement - they were invited to the cinema.
Life began to get better. Residents who had fled the occupation began to return to the ruins of their hometown. According to historical evidence, already on December 18, two bakeries began operating in the city. A week later, bakery No. 1 was restored, and on December 26, the GES-3 turbine was launched, which provided Kalinin with electricity. On New Year's Day, 1942, the post office began operating, then on January 7, the water supply system was restored. The tram went through the streets of the liberated city on February 5.
In the plans German command the city of Kalinin (now this is my city of Tver) was assigned important as a large industrial and transport hub, which was planned to be used for a further attack on Moscow, Leningrad and the northeast of the European part of the USSR.
The enemy came close to the city on October 13, 1941. Residents of the city of Kalinin remembered this day with the roar of shells, bomb explosions, and the flames of fire. “Proletarka”, “Vagzhanovka”, and the Carriage Building Plant were on fire. Enemy tanks broke through in the Migalovo area.
The city was defended by units of the fifth and two hundred and fifty-sixth rifle divisions, schools for junior lieutenants and fighter battalions. The enemy threw 15 divisions here and a third tank group. The forces were unequal, and on October 14 the enemy managed to capture the city.
The northern part of Kalinin and Zatverechye remained under the control of the Red Army. The fighting in the city did not stop for another three days. On October 17, the city completely came under German control. 
With the beginning of the occupation, a local administration was formed, with the help of the German authorities, and the Nazi intelligence services and punitive authorities were active. WITH Soviet side In Kalinin, there were agents and a station, an anti-fascist underground. Throughout the entire period of occupation, fighting took place in Kalinin and in its immediate vicinity; the city itself was under martial law. Due to the importance of the operational area, the Kalinin Front was formed on October 19, 1941, initially consisting of the 22nd, 29th, 30th, and a few days later the 31st armies. Colonel General I.S. Konev was appointed commander of the front. At the end of October, the front in the Kalinin area stabilized.
On December 5, 1941, the troops of the Kalinin Front went on the offensive.
This was one of those offensives that shattered the myth of the invincibility of Hitler's army. The main role in the liberation of Kalinin was assigned to the 29th and 31st armies. Advancing with different sides, they were supposed to unite in the village of Negotino.
The enemies did not expect such an onslaught. Hastily leaving their positions, abandoning the wounded, the enemies retreated. After a 45-minute artillery barrage on the morning of December 16, the assault on the city began. By 3 p.m. Kalinin was completely cleared of fascist occupiers. 
November 15, 1941 began new stage the offensive of fascist troops on Moscow. Large German group hit the weakened 30th Army, and by the end of November 17 its troops were divided into three groups: 5th rifle division went beyond the Volga, and German troops went to the Volga reservoir. One of the most tragic and critical moments in the defense of Moscow came. By decision of the Headquarters, the 30th Army was transferred to the Western Front, and the center of gravity of the struggle moved to its defense zone. At the end of November, the troops of the Kalinin Front launched a series of scattered attacks with small forces on in certain directions, which did not provide significant assistance to the Western Front. 
During the Kalinin defensive operation enemy attempts to make a breakthrough between the Western and Northwestern fronts and the plans of the German command to deeply cover Moscow from the north. Up to 35 thousand enemy soldiers and officers were destroyed. Total losses The Kalinin Front numbered over 50 thousand people.
Soviet troops managed to stop further development the offensive of the Wehrmacht, and repeated attempts were made to liberate the city.
This is how the liberators saw the city. 
The city is largely destroyed, half wounded, but the joy of the first days, when the Red Army returned to the city, is clearly captured on the faces of the people, and the joy sounds in the raised voices of the people, is reflected in free movements, in a lively readiness to tell, help, explain. On fences and shop windows, touching announcements from the first days have been preserved, when Proletarskaya Pravda had not yet resumed - this newspaper, the brainchild of Kalinin workers, is being published again. These advertisements on buildings and storefronts can be read back to back, like a poem of restoration. They are handwritten in ink, they were written soviet people, who took the initiative to rebuild the city. The Voroshilov weaving factory asks all workers, workers, craftsmen to register and announces the hiring of labor. “The health department has resumed its work and is in need of construction workers, roofers, glaziers, and craftsmen.” School number such-and-such “requests all students and teachers to appear on such-and-such a date.” “Professors, teachers and students are asked to register pedagogical institute" Dozens and dozens of advertisements from institutions, enterprises, schools, cooperative artels. Now many of these organizations are already operational. 
December 16 is a great day not only for my city, but for the whole country. It was on this day in 1941 that Kalinin was liberated from the yoke of the Nazi invaders. Exactly this military operation became one of the first victories Soviet soldiers on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War.
November 4, 2010President Russian Federation Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev signed decrees conferring the title “City of Military Glory” on Vladivostok, Tikhvin and Tver. Three cities were awarded this title for the courage, resilience and mass heroism shown by the city’s defenders in the struggle for freedom and independence of the Fatherland.
Every centimeter of the land of my Tver contains the memory of battles, heroism, and deaths. And we must remember this. Remember and honor the feat of our ancestors. And the title "City" Military Glory“obliges us to honor this feat doubly.
The clouds over Tver lay very low.
Hundreds of tombstones, stones, obelisks
Reminds me of bloody battles
Somewhere the weeping willows are sad,
Laying their branches on the graves.
There is a quiet noise about the heroes of the oak forest.
Tver is a city of military glory!
War's unhealed wounds ache.
There are few veteran fighters left,
After all, we won that bloody battle.
Tver is a city of military glory!
A fire will break out on the Avenue of Heroes.
How we sometimes miss our grandfathers,
The hands of their loved ones, hot, rough.
Tver is a city of military glory!
The fighters fought until their last breath.
Difficult time, period, era.
Finish to the brown lava flow!
Tver is a city of military glory!
In the evening it’s loud, anxious and long
The ringing of bells flows over the Volga!
In memory of our brave defenders!
Tver is a city of military glory!
My city - my love and pain, my city, rising above the Volga. My city...You are infinitely dear to me and familiar to every street, to every house. I love your streets. My whole life has been spent here. Everywhere and always you are in my heart.
Your fate was difficult and difficult. How many difficult trials have befallen you, how many lives of your citizens have you paid for your right and happiness to be a Great City on the Great Russian River! 
On December 16, 1970, in the center of Tver, where the Tmaka River merges with the Volga, the Obelisk of Victory was opened. It shot up 45 meters as a symbol of the sacred memory of those who gave their lives for the Motherland, for our happiness. Burns day and night Eternal flame in a niche of a granite wall. 
Liberation of Kalinin
December 16, 2011 marks the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the city of Kalinin (Tver) from the Nazi invaders.
In the plans of the Nazi command, Kalinin was given serious importance. The city is located between two capitals - Moscow and Leningrad. Three strategically important roads converge in it: the Oktyabrskaya railway, the Moscow-Leningrad highway, the waterway - the Moscow-Volga canal. Kalinin was a large regional industrialized center. Before German occupation According to the 1939 census, the city had 217 thousand inhabitants. The main industry was cotton. Its daily production amounted to 610 thousand meters of fabric. The second industry was carriage building. The following industries were also developed: sewing, engineering, knitting, and flour-grinding industries. There was a pedagogical and teachers' institute in the city, where more than 2 thousand students studied; Institute of Foreign Languages, Mechanical Engineering and Thermal Mechanical College, Medical and Theater School. In 1940, there were 30 schools and 46 libraries in the city.
In 1941, a large group of German troops broke through to
approaches to Kalinin, set herself a task of several days capture the city. The Nazi command associated his capture with far-reaching goals. Along with the seizure of enterprises where it was possible to produce weapons to supply their army, create a threat of coverage Moscow from the north. The Red Army prevented the implementation of Hitler's plans, stopping and defeating the Nazi hordes on the outskirts of Moscow. by order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief I.V. Stalin launched a counteroffensive Soviet troops on the flanks in order to eliminate Hitler's formations on the approaches to Moscow. December 5, 1941 began big battle in the city region Kalinina. The task assigned to the front command was not only to occupy Kalinin, to defeat the Kalinin grouping of Germans, but also to go to the rear of enemy units operating on the approaches to Moscow. Still at 3 o'clock in the morning three avant-garde rifle battalion almost simultaneously crossed in different places on the ice on South coast Volga and broke into villages occupied by the enemy. The Germans turned the coast into an ice fortress, making the slope of the coast almost steep, inaccessible to humans (the shore was flooded with water and frozen).
The Germans responded to the attack by Soviet troops with a hurricane
mortar and machine gun fire. But nothing could hold back the fighting the rush of our troops. An hour and a half after the start of the offensive, a group of our troops, having broken through the enemy’s defenses, captured the outskirts of the village Staro-Konstantinovskoe.General Goryachev’s formations, concentrating on the left bank of the Volga, crossed the river during the day, silencing the coastal
enemy guns and broke into the Vlasyevo state farm, thereby cutting off Moscow-Leningrad highway east of Kalinin. The blow was so swift that only a few Nazis managed to escape from Vlasyevo. Our parts are not giving the Germans a break, they were getting closer and closer to the city. Hot fights Big and Small Peremerki flared up outside the village. The Germans turned them into a strong fortification. Aviation came to the aid of our infantry, dominated the air from the very beginning of the offensive. Despite frost, the pilots made 3-4 flights a day.Overcoming the stubborn resistance of the Germans, our troops all
They squeezed the ring around Kalinin tighter and tighter. Particularly stubborn battles flared up on the left flank of the Red Army units advancing on the city. The villages of Malye and Bolshie Peremerki, the elevator and other strong points had to be taken by detour by General Goryachev’s units.The fight went on with a ferocity unprecedented before that time.
The Germans used their old tricks: psychic attacks, throwing the rear of the machine gunners, there were even hand-to-hand battles, but everything remained to no avail. By the end of December 15, 1941, the ring of our troops had almost closed. On the night of December 16, the advancing squad of Major Kolkov captured elevator area, villages of Bolshie and Malye Peremerki. Storm the city started at 3:30 am.
Our fighters came from different directions. The city was on fire. Here and there
there were explosions there. It was the Nazis who blew up ammunition depots, that could not be removed, business buildings, houses. It was going on in the streets the fussy movement of retreating units. Enemy feeling threatened surrounded, they threw their weapons, ammunition, and equipment in panic. At 14.30 from the south with Red Army troops entered the city in battle and occupied Zheleznodorozhny station, then moved deeper into the city and Sovetskaya Square. On the night of On December 19, Zatvereche was liberated, in the morning part of the Red Army occupied Trans-Volga region, River Station, and then, having crossed the Volga, entered the to the central part of the city. On the afternoon of December 16, 1941, the city of Kalinin was completely cleared of separate groups German machine gunners and finally passed into the hands of Soviet troops.
There is a scattering of white snow on the roofs,
Frost twitches on the poplars.
Someone was missing two steps,
To enter our native Kalinin alive.
To sit down tiredly and smoke
On bricks burning from the battle.
And suddenly see in the glow of dawn,
How proudly the flag flies above your head.
A bloody scarlet trail bloomed in the snow,
And the friends walked in stern silence ...
Years have passed. But after so many years,
As before, mothers and widows cry.
Silence frightens them as before,
The cities are sleeping, but they can’t sleep.
Distant harsh war
Lives in hearts and dreams of them at night.
As before, they wait
Those who left in battle once upon a time.
Who from that last, fierce war
He will not give up his rank as a soldier.
A peaceful city woke up at dawn
The wounded and surviving hero...
Found by soldiers through decades.
To stand in line with everyone today.
Bravery and courage combined with high military
art provided the soldiers of the Kalinin Front with combat success, a major victory over the enemy. When the city is liberated according to preliminary According to the information reported by the Information Bureau, the following were taken from the Germans: 190 guns, 31 tank, 9 aircraft, 1000 vehicles, 160 mortars, 303 machine guns, 47 motorcycles, 4,500 rifles, 18 radios, 4 battle flags.After two months of fighting, Soviet troops cleared the city of Germans. Warriors and partisans witnessed a terrible battle in the city. The Nazis destroyed all enterprises and entire residential areas. Handsome-
the bridge over the Volga (the only river crossing in the center) was blown up. There are wreckages of burnt out cars and downed planes everywhere. Painting The destruction of the city was truly stunning. From big houses survived only walls blackened by fire. On Sovetskaya street the whole north is on fire side from Lenin Square to the city garden. Dozens were burned schools, club buildings, kindergartens. Found in ruins: Dramatic theater, Youth Theater, Philharmonic building. Shopping arcades were blown up, as well as monument to V.I. Lenin.The Germans caused incredible damage to industry
cities. The factory named after them was completely destroyed. A.P.Vagzhanova, spinning factory, the workshops of the carriage factory were partially destroyed.After the liberation of the city, within several months, the corpses of tortured residents and underground workers were discovered. In April 1942
In the Proletarsky district, the corpses of 67 people were found in three pits. An examination revealed that their skulls were crushed and their teeth were knocked out. 42 people had their hands tied with electrical wires and ropes. In January 1942 in the courtyard of a house on the street. Perovskaya discovered 21 corpses of brutally tortured people citizens: 11 people had their hands tied, 10 had firearms wounds to the heads, 18 people were disfigured beyond recognition.Capture of the city of Kalinin by the troops of the valiant Red Army
improved the position of the Kalinin Front units and allowed them spread success throughout the western part of the front up to Toropets, Rzhev and Zubtsov.In the severe December frosts of 1941, the city was barely
the receding sounds of artillery echoed. The front moved to the west, and life resumed in the liberated city from the first days.
The Nazis are fleeing! Their path is long.
At the crossroads of cities
The liberated Kalinin stood up,
Relatives greets sons.
He is here again, he is with us again...
In the liberated blue
Dear, joyful banner,
How the sun reaches out to Moscow.
Sergey Ostrovoy
About 700 thousand of our fellow countrymen fought on the fronts of the Patriotic War. About 250 thousand of them died. For courage and heroism, more than 300 natives of the Tver land were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Four have been awarded this high rank twice: fighter pilots A.V. Alelyukhin, a native of the village. Kesova Gora; IN AND. Andrianov, a native of the Bezhetsk region; A.S. Smirnov, a native of the Rameshkovsky district; Marshal of the Soviet Union M.V. Zakharov, a native of the Staritsky district.
It would be impossible to list all the losses soon.
12 days and the same number of nights
This heavy battle for the city lasted
With a rabid pack of executioners.
All on fire, you can hear him moaning,
My city, which knew how to wait for help.
"Storm!" - Konev orders.
“Beat them here, don’t let them go back!”
And the soldier's work began.
It was a frosty early morning.
The infantry moved as if on wings,
From everywhere you could hear: “Hurray!”
The enemy is defeated. Kalinin is with us again,
It will come to life and bloom again.
Here it is, our banner of victory,
We have to carry it to Berlin.
The Tver land gave the Motherland such outstanding military leaders How Chief Marshal armored forces P.A. Rotmistrov, a native of the Selizharovsky district; Colonel General of Tank Forces A.G. Rodin, a native of the Penovsky district; Air Chief Marshal P.F. Zhigarev, a native of the Vesyegonsky district; Air Marshal G.A. Vorozheikin, a native of the Nelidovsky district; Admiral F.S. Oktyabrsky, native of Staritsky district
