Chapter 25 6.The defeat in the village of Okuninovo

The situation of our right neighbor Central Front has seriously deteriorated. In the second half of August, the Fascist German army forcibly crossed the upper reaches of the Dnieper River in the area of ​​​​the front army, and advanced far to the east, threatening our front army to expose its flanks.In the next day or two, the enemy's heavy forces may move from the north to the deep rear of the 5th Army, and at the same time seize the crossings of the Dnieper River that are vital to the 5th Army's life. On August 16, we learned that C. M. Bujon, Commander-in-Chief in our direction,

Nepal asked the headquarters for permission to withdraw the 5th Army and the 27th Infantry Army to the left bank of the Dnieper River.He stated his reasons as follows: "Since the base camp decided not to carry out an offensive campaign from this area (referring to the Ofruch area--author's note), the defense of this area is meaningless and will weaken our army in a battle of disparity in strength. It is more important for us It would be advantageous to withdraw the right wing of the Southwest Front (5th Army and 27th Rifle Corps) eastward across the Dnieper. The retreat of the right wing was also inevitable because, according to available information, the friendly Central Front was in Bryansk, Unecha The area is fought in close proximity. The sooner we establish reserves behind the right flank of the Southwestern Front, the more stable our situation will be. At the same time, reserves are also indispensable for the struggle to defend Kiev. The strength of the Kiev fortified area is completely Not enough. Moreover, because our army retreats to the other side of the Dnieper River, the enemy may mobilize new troops to attack the Kiev fortified area. If the headquarters of the Presidential Command allows the 5th Army and the 27th Infantry Army to withdraw across the Dnieper River, then It is possible to draw two or three infantry divisions into the reserve, and it is possible to proceed with the conversion of seven tank and motorized divisions. This will allow the reserve to have two more infantry divisions."

The base camp quickly replied and agreed.Two days later, the headquarters gave the Southwest Front the following task: to defend the left bank of the Dnieper from the town of Loyev (north of Kyiv) to Perevolochnaya (southeast of Kremenchug).Due to the shortened line of defense, our front army can now draw at least eight infantry divisions into the reserve.On this day, August 19, the Military Council of the Front Army signed a campaign order for the withdrawal of the 5th Army and the 27th Infantry Army. Instructions called for a retreat within a tight time frame.The 5th Army started on the night of August 19 and was supposed to occupy the defense between the town of Loyev and Grebov, north of Kyiv, in the early morning of August 25.Travel is only permitted at night.Five nights is five trips.

Due to the relatively short distance to be covered by the 27th Rifle Corps, General Potapov's corps was supposed to hold the area and secure their left flank during the first three days of their retreat.The army did not start moving again until after dark on 22 August.It is planned that after the army advances to the left bank of the Dnieper River, its 28th Infantry Division will be transferred to strengthen the defense forces in the Kyiv fortification area, while the airborne brigades belonging to the 2nd and 3rd Airborne Corps will be transferred to the front army reserve. This maneuver was considered in this way.Now let's see how the military implements it.

The 5th Army units, which were in close combat contact with the superior enemy forces, had to break free from them in order to retreat unhindered across the Dnieper.To the credit of General Potapov and his headquarters, they organized things very well.Hitler's high command thus failed to prevent the retreat of the army group.Philippi had to admit: "The enemy's army is the same as before. By strengthening the frontal resistance, it confuses the commander of the German corps in person, retreats in covert preparations, and then suddenly retreats across the board." When the enemy's reconnaissance department discovered that the Soviet divisions were retreating from the Korosten area, the enemy launched a violent attack along the Teterev River in order to cut off the divisions' roads. However, our left-wing troops, including the 4th NKVD The division unit successfully repelled these assaults.

In this way, the fascists failed to cut off the continuous retreat of the 5th Army road. The situation with the 27th Infantry Corps was quite the opposite. General E. J. Artyomenko and his headquarters did not organize the retreat of their troops well.They clearly did not take into account the realistic possibility of the enemy obstructing this extremely important and complex maneuver.Unfortunately, the Front Command did not foresee this threat either.The commander of the German Sixth Army immediately took advantage of our miscalculation.After he learned through reconnaissance that the Soviet troops had started a poorly concealed and poorly organized movement, he ordered General Stapf, the commander of the 11th Tank Division, to go out of the Dnieper River first.Stapf's powerful fast group advanced along the only road on the corps' right flank.General Artyomenko did not know why he did not send Colonel C. A. Novik's 28th Mountain Infantry Division, which relied on this important line of communication on the right flank, to cover this road, but sent A. E. Novik, who was closer to Kyiv, to cover this road. General Budhoe's 171st Infantry Division came to cover.When Budho sent a fast detachment composed of an infantry regiment and a battalion of the 357th Light Artillery Regiment to struggle through the forest and swamps filled with logistics, the fascist tanks had already gone far along the road, and this road was passed by. To the only Dnieper bridge crossing in the region (next to the village of Okuninovo).

Only the 2nd Battalion of the 357th Artillery Regiment had time to show up on the way forward for the tanks. open.The fascists encountered companies of the battalion in the area of ​​the village of Ivankov.About ten tanks hit one of the companies.The artillery destroyed two of them, but almost all of them died under the heavy fire of the Fascists themselves.There was only one soldier left beside the last cannon camouflaged with braided strips.As the tank approaches, the cannon comes to life.Two enemy tanks caught fire, and the rest stopped advancing and began to fire violently.At this time, a group of submachine gunners detoured the artillery.It would have been okay to leave, but this artilleryman didn't do it.As the enemy tanks advanced again, he knocked out a third tank.The farmhouse was burning behind the artillery.Sparks fell on the warrior and burned him.And yet he continued to shoot.Another tank was smoking.The cannon was silent, for the shells had run out.The fascists fell on the artillery.The artilleryman stood up, threatened them with his fist, and staggered (he was wounded) towards the burning farmhouse.He would rather die than be taken prisoner.After our people arrived, they accidentally found a surviving wounded soldier at the place where the fighting took place not long ago.Learned what happened here from him.He also named the aimer who was operating alone at the cannon.I remember his last name, Brigada.It's a pity that I haven't been able to learn anything about this hero in the future.

There is a folk adage that says: "Whoever has a heart of steel can wear wooden armor." The honorable artilleryman did have a heart of steel, or rather, a heart of a Soviet patriot.Only death can break such a man. Fascist tanks gallop along the highway.A small border guard, commanded by Lieutenant Sergei Uglyarenko, fought them at the Teterev River road bridge near Gornostapol.These few fighters held the enemy for hours.The Fascists did not move on until the early hours of the morning.In the afternoon they repelled small detachments of the 4th NKVD Division and approached Okuninovo. At 18:00, the Dnieper River Highway Bridge fell into the hands of the enemy.

Upon learning of this situation, even Kirponos lost his characteristic calmness.He angrily tapped the map on the table with his fist: "How can you allow this to happen!" The Chief of Staff of the Front Army reported that communication with the headquarters of the 27th Army had been cut off.Every effort must be made to establish direct contact with the divisions of the corps for crossing north of Kyiv to the left bank of the Dnieper.The Minister of Engineering, General Ilyin Mitkevich, was ordered to transfer all the floating means of the Dnieper Steamship Company at hand to the south of Okuninovo - where the regiments of the 27th Infantry Corps were moving forward.Two engineering battalions carried anti-tank mine reserves, and drove towards the fascist tanks crossing the Dnieper River by car.

Kirponos nodded with satisfaction: "That's good. You will personally supervise the crossing of the 27th Rifle Corps, Vasily Ivanovich. And take urgent measures to blow up the Okuninovo bridge and clear the enemy's landing field. And, in the Urgently erecting defenses along the Desna River near Austier. What forces can we send there?" A motorized infantry company, the 212th Airborne Brigade and an anti-aircraft artillery company of the Mazhilin Division were nearby, Tupikov said. Kirponos thought this was too little.He ordered that some troops be drawn there immediately from other sectors, including the fortified area of ​​Kyiv, first of all from General B. H. Mikushev's 41st Division and from the airborne corps.At the same time it was also decided to send a shrewd commander from the Front Command to the Okuninovo area to analyze and report in detail what was happening there.

"Please don't delay, Vasily Ivanovich," Kirponos waved his hand impatiently, "go and give orders." What happened at the Okuninovo ferry? Major B. A. Penikowski, the Chief of Staff of the Air Defense of the Front, who had been sent there, returned with a sullen face, as if he had grown old.Here's what he talked about. Guarding the bridge were two battalions of anti-aircraft artillery and detachments of O. M. Mazhilin's 4th NKVD Division.On the first night of the German tank breakthrough, the commander of the 37th Army for some reason withdrew an anti-aircraft artillery battalion and transferred it to another sector.On both banks near the bridge, strong fortifications have been built with the strength of local residents: civil launch points connected by traffic trenches and infantry bunkers.But these fortifications were empty because the detachments that were supposed to occupy them had not yet arrived.And there is not even a single anti-tank gun here. The bridge defenders were negligent to such an extent that when enemy tanks appeared on the bridge in the evening of August 23, the anti-aircraft artillery fired at them with shrapnel.It turned out that the antiaircraft artillery battalion commander didn't even pay attention to the fact that each company should have shells suitable for hitting tank targets.Shrapnel shells could not do any damage to the tanks, they broke up the anti-aircraft batteries on the right bank and rushed to the bridge.Some artillerymen of the command platoon rushed towards the tank.They burned two tanks with Molotov cocktails, but died under the tracks of the rest. Due to distressing circumstances, the bridge was not blown up, although preparations for the explosion had been made well in advance.The commander of the engineering unit has direct telephone and telegraph communication with the headquarters of the front army.When the fascist tanks showed up, he called to find me, and as soon as he started reporting, the line died.I got in touch with him again by Morse telegraph.But this time the radio operator didn't have time to issue the blasting order-the line suddenly failed.The bridge did not blow up.At that time, I realized very deeply: how meaningful is the ability of a commander to act in a timely manner and boldly make reasonable determinations in line with the situation... The battalion of reserve engineers dispatched from the Brovare area rushed to the city of Auster, crossed the Desna River, blew up all the bridges between the Dnieper and Desna Rivers, and The road from Novo to Austier was mined.In this way, they temporarily blocked the further advance of the enemy tank column. Various measures were immediately taken to blow up the Okuninovo Bridge.The Air Force and the District Fleet Naval Service were the first to try to do this.At night, some ships sailed towards the bridge at high speed, but were beaten back by heavy artillery fire.The navy soldiers changed to outsmart: drop mines downstream.As long as a mine hits a bridge pier, the bridge will collapse.But the Fascists had anticipated this danger.They monitored the river and fished out the mines in time. Our planes went to blow up bridges earlier than ships.But if you want to hit the thin line of the bridge from a high altitude, you should try it!Regardless of the danger, many pilots flew close to the target, but none of the bombs hit... As soon as Lieutenant Sergey Kolybin returned to the airfield, the commander of the aviation division called him.The general told him that the bridge had not yet been blown up. "I entrust this task to you. Do you know how important this task is?" "Everything is clear, Comrade General." Two planes took off towards Okuninovo.It was Korebin who was driving the lead plane.Second Lieutenant Vasily Olejnik followed behind him. After breaking through the enemy to stop the shooting, Korebin minimized the altitude of the plane and flew over the bridge.Both bombs were well-placed.The steel frame collapsed into the river with a bang. Witnesses said that at this moment, the "Il" aircraft caught fire.The flaming plane skimmed over the road without turning a corner, and then plunged into the column of enemy tanks. (I was very pleased to hear not long ago that the glorious pilot we thought was dead is miraculously alive!) On the day the Okuninovo Bridge was seized, I was entrusted by General Kirponos to call the commander of the army group and conveyed the absolute order of the commander of the front army: use resolute actions to destroy the enemy troops that have crossed the river as soon as possible, Do not allow them to gain a foothold on the banks of the Dnieper. The commander of the 37th Army Group promised to complete the task.However, the little force he sent to the landing site could not save the situation.When the commander of the army group began to take more resolute actions under the urging of the front army command, the opportunity had been missed. It is a pity that General Potapov, the commander of the 5th Army, also failed to pay due attention to clearing the landing site at the first moment-he was withdrawing his troops to the other side of the Dnieper River, which was a complicated task . Now we will take all measures to drive the enemy off the left bank.For this reason, a lot of troops and weapons from the two group armies and a large number of aviation troops of our army were transferred.At times it seemed that all living things had been cleared from the landing field, but as soon as our detachments charged, they were met with heavy fire.The advance of our soldiers was blocked by impenetrable swamps, while the Hitlerites took refuge in dense groves. In the battle on the Dnieper, we lost only here so far.On the broad line of defense in the middle reaches of the river, our army held on to the east bank, only near Okuninovo, the dangerous tumor was slowly growing.This is a big threat in the extremely difficult situation that developed before the end of August.The strategic situation of our front army is getting worse and worse. Although the 5th Army had retreated, its right flank was still exposed - the German forces of the "Centre" army group had advanced far to the east.As soon as they turned to the south, they advanced far into the rear of our front, and there were many indications that the Hitlerites were preparing to do just that. The threat on the southern flank loomed as well. The main force of the "South" Army Group, the 17th Field Army and the 1st Tank Army, has been deployed along the west bank of the Dnieper River to Dnepropetrovsk, and is preparing to forcefully cross the river. In the center of the Front Army, that is, the protruding part of the great arc of the Dnieper River, our army firmly held the battle landing field on the west bank, and the center of the landing field was the capital of Soviet Ukraine.Although the situation in this area has stabilized after successfully repelling the enemy's general attack, the head of the front army still did not dare to weaken Kyiv's defense, not to mention that the fascists captured a ferry near Okuninovo not far from Kyiv. Taking into account the resulting strategic situation of the campaign, the Military Council decided to transfer the command post of the Front to Priluki in order to be close to the sectors where decisive battles will soon take place. I and some officers were ordered to stay in Broire until the first echelon of the front led by the agency arrived at the new location.The Chief of Staff ordered us to follow closely the progress of the battle to clear the Okuninovo landing site before departure. But the time has passed.The enemy has gained a foothold and is gathering forces.We had to take hasty measures to strengthen Kyiv's defenses not only to the south and west, but also to the north.