Chapter 21 3.city ​​fire barrier

The July sun was shining brightly.The blue sky is lightly covered with a few gauze-like white clouds.This is the worst weather ever!As we approached the Kyiv Fortified Regional Command in Svyatoshino, the Fascist aviation began to strike again.The piercing screams of the sirens never stopped, warning people that batches of enemy planes were approaching.In the command post, however, work was intense as usual, calm as usual.The staff officers who returned from the various units reported to the chief what they had done, and immediately returned to the units with new tasks. After I waited for the chief of security in the fortification area to escape, I stepped forward and said to him:

"Hello, Comrade Sysoyev." The majestic colonel, who was no longer young, turned his bandaged head to look at me.It was difficult, and he frowned in pain.But when I saw it, I smiled: "Ivan Khristoforovich! It's a pleasure to see you. Excuse me, I'm not in the right spirits, a cannonball skin nearly knocked off my head. But I feel much better now. Sit closer, please." I am an old acquaintance with Fyodor Sergeyevich Sysoyev.I saw him often in peacetime when he was chief of security in the Lava fortified region of Russia.In the first few days of the war, although the troops in the fortification area were turned around on both sides, they still held their positions.It wasn't until they received the order to retreat that they blew up the permanent launch point and began to chase the main force.Since Colonel Sysoev was an experienced and battle-tested commander, he was ordered in early July to organize the defense of Kyiv's fortified area.

It is a pity that Sysoev was unlucky on the way to Svyatoshino: he was bombed and injured.Despite the constant pain in the wound, Fyodor Sergeyevich stuck to his post.The deputy chief of security, young and energetic Colonel Grigory Yevdokimovich Chernov tirelessly helped him. There were also several officers in the room.Among them, I recognized Ilarion Fedorovich Yevdokimov, the former deputy chief of regional politics of the Russian Lava fortification and political commissar of the regiment.It's nice that the two comrades are together again.There was a kind smile on his cheekboned face, and it had dark brown eyes with small Mongolian sockets.This is the image I remember of the last commissar in the fortified area of ​​Kyiv. (His experience was not good. On September 20, he led the surviving fighters to break out and was seriously injured in the battle. The collective farm staff took him back to recuperate. So he participated in the struggle again, but he was already a He was an underground worker. He did not return to the ranks of the Soviet Army until the beginning of 1943. This brave political worker was awarded eight times by the government for his many exploits during the Great Patriotic War, including an Order of Lenin. Now, Ilarion Fedorovich Yevdokimov, former political commissar of the Kyiv fortified area and a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union who joined the party in 1919, lived in Kyiv.)

-------- ①The Soviet Army abolished the political commissar system twice in 1924 and 1940, but set up political commissars in divisions, regiments and other units in mid-July 1941, and it was not abolished until October 1942. ——Translator's Note. Lieutenant Colonel C. B. Yepifanov, Chief of Staff of the Fortified Area, and Lieutenant Colonel B. B. Likhov, Deputy Chief of Staff, were also present.I got acquainted with them all, and briefly introduced the determination of the Military Committee of the Front Army, saying that I came to gain an in-depth understanding of the organization and status of the fortification area defense.

Everyone spread out the map on the table.Sysoyev moved on the map with a pencil and began to explain the situation to me.For more than a day, the advance units of the German Motorized 3rd Army have been feeling the weakness in the defense of our fortified area.The fascist reconnaissance service was particularly interested in the proximity southwest of Kyiv.It appeared that the enemy was preparing his main assault here.The purpose was to advance along the banks of the Dnieper, seize the bridges in the city, and pass through them to the left bank.In this case, the enemy will not need to pass through the whole of Kyiv, but surround it from the rear.

The chief of police presented me with a draft plan for the organization of the defense of the fortified area, which General Sovetnikov had participated in drawing up, taking into account the incoming troops and regiments.The frontiers of the fortified area are along the Irpin River, Belgorodka, Petrovsky, Yurovka, Weta-Pochitovaya, Kremenisheh, and Mregi.Two fortifications in the north and south were established.The territory of the northern fortification stretches from Borki to Belgorodka, with three battalions of the permanent garrison, the 3rd Airborne Brigade, the 4th Regiment of the NKVD, a howitzer regiment, military district quartermaster training courses and Kyiv Second Artillery School.The Chief of Police for the Northern Territory is J.B. Avelin, Brigade Grade.The southern fortified territory, which included the other half of the fortified area, up to the Dnieper River, was defended by two fortified area battalions with units of the 147th Infantry Division, a howitzer regiment, three anti-tank artillery battalions and the 1st Kyiv Artillery School.The border police chief is Major Luchnikov.In addition, the 206th Infantry Division, the 2nd Airborne Brigade, the 132nd Tank Regiment, the Military District Management Training Class, a Border Defense Corps, an independent light tank company and an anti-tank artillery company were also deployed in the fortification area.

"Oh, you still manage a whole tank regiment!" I said happily. "There are regiments, but not tanks." Sysoyev sighed. "The regiment consisted of seven old light tanks. Actually the regiment was an infantry regiment, since it had only a thousand men armed with rifles and a few machine guns." The chief of police drew a pencil on the second defensive zone a few kilometers away from the outskirts of the city, and said: "We are going to deploy the units belonging to the 206th Infantry Division here. We have also considered the counterattack direction of this division."

I listened carefully to the Chief of Security's introduction, and pointed out that there was one point in the draft plan that was not clear: Who would command the troops in each region?Colonel Sysoyev replied that they had considered this issue.Temporary decision: Avelin, the brigade-level security chief in the northern border, will be designated as the head of the higher rank, and he will be in charge of both the permanent garrison and the field troops who come to aid.In the South, unfortunately, it's a different story.The chief of police there was a major, and among the field troops who came to aid was the 147th Infantry Division under the command of an experienced veteran commander, Colonel Potekhin.Therefore, it was decided that the two battalions of the permanent garrison would remain under the command of Major Luchnikov, while all field troops coming to aid, including the artillery units, would be under the command of the division commander.The division headquarters is also responsible for organizing and maintaining coordination between the permanent garrison and incoming field troops.

The main advantage of this disposition of forces is that it does not require major movements of troops, and it is also in keeping with the circumstances. After we discussed all the issues, we drove to the southern border defense position.Colonel Sysoyev was not feeling well and could not accompany us.I was accompanied by Colonel Chernov and regimental commissar Yevdokimov. Near Yurovka we went to the firing positions of the anti-tank battalion.The artillerymen were taking off their clothes and digging with shovels, sweat running down their bare backs. A young officer with three squares on his collar came running towards us.

"Captain Sergienko, company commander," he introduced himself. "How are you feeling?" I asked. "Ready to engage enemy tanks?" "As long as they dare to come. We are now building a reserve position. Not only must we use accurate firepower, but we must also attack the enemy suddenly." It turned out that the captain had already participated in the battle. As soon as a short break was announced, the soldiers immediately surrounded us and asked about the situation on the front line.I gave an update on the enemy situation and warned that the enemy had a lot of tanks, so the artillery had a complicated job to do.I saw a very young soldier beside me, so I couldn't help asking him if he had seen a fascist tank.The young man blushed with shame, but he answered firmly:

"Not yet, Comrade Colonel, but I'm going to. One thing I know is that they can't be let into Kyiv." "You can count on it, Comrade Colonel," added the company commander, "that the lads can be trusted even though they have no combat experience. They are doing their best to practice shooting moving targets." After we bid farewell to the anti-tank fighters, we went to the positions that the troops of the 147th Infantry Division had just arrived and hurriedly completed the supplementary construction.Division commander Sava Kalistratovich Potekhin met us on the western outskirts of Yurovka.We got to know each other.The typical Russian face, pale eyes and a very calm, unaffected manner of speaking, all befitted the fifty-year-old colonel. After Potekhin gave me a detailed introduction to the situation of the division, he suggested that we go to the frontier of the fortification area.We went to each unit of the 600th and 640th Infantry Regiments successively.The work of constructing defensive areas is in full swing everywhere. We also visited the masters of the fortification area-the detachment of the 28th Independent Machine Gun Battalion commanded by the mighty-looking Captain A. E. Kipolenko. There is a "Crime" support point near Yurovka, which includes permanent launch points 205, 206, and 207.We took a closer look at their condition. As we all know, the Kyiv fortification area was built in the 1930s when A. R. Yakir was the commander of the military region.At that time, it was considered that Kyiv was of great significance as a large administrative and political center, and it was decided to establish a fortification system close to it.The reinforced concrete permanent launching points are basically built on a line.It should be noted that fortified areas were actually obsolete before the outbreak of World War II and did not meet the requirements of the times.Sufficient quantities of ammunition cannot be stored in the permanent launch sites, there are no underground communication lines between the launch sites, and ventilation is poor.There are no anti-tank and anti-infantry obstacles either at the permanent launch points or in the defensive depth. All these facilities were abandoned and equipment dismantled in 1940 due to the construction of fortified areas on the new borders. It was only after the start of the war that the frontier engagements were visibly defeated that we began to prepare the fortified areas for combat.All permanent firing points were re-equipped with machine guns, and small-caliber artillery was installed at some firing points.The people of Kyiv helped a lot in this work. Through this business trip, I have a very clear impression of the Kyiv fortification area.From the perspective of the equipment and stability of the garrison, it is not of great value, but it has great power after all.Happily, the chief of the fortified territory saw the weakness in the defense and took all measures to improve the stability of the defense.Even more gratifying is the high morale of the army.Although the general situation on the front line is not good, the commanders and fighters did not feel depressed at all.All of the people we spoke to shared an emotion that was aptly expressed by the Chief of Staff at Permanent Launch Site 205.He pointed to the fortifications and equipment of the launch point and said: "This is our home!" After a moment of silence, he added: "We vow not to leave it. Because behind is Kyiv!" To defend Kyiv The last drop of blood - all the soldiers in the fortification area are preparing to participate in the upcoming battle with this belief. We traveled all over the most important southern border of the fortification area, decided not to return to Svyatoshino, but went straight to Brovaly via Kyiv, arriving late at night.