About how the Marines operated during the Great Patriotic War

This issue already contains material about the actions of the marines. Our correspondent, Captain 3rd Rank Sergey Vasilyev, visited Chechnya with the "black berets".

During the formidable period of the Great Patriotic War, Soviet naval officers defeated the fascist invaders and Japanese militarists not only in the vast expanses of the sea. Thousands of marines fought alongside the infantry.

The forces were mainly composed of naval rifle brigades, coastal batteries, training units and schools, crews of ships under repair, and rear units. In critical moments, some of the personnel from warships were also deployed on land.

Here are just a few fragments of the Marines' combat history on various fronts.

Born in the battles of Moscow

Hundreds of marines took part in the battle for the capital of our Motherland, Moscow. The history of the 1st Moscow Separate Detachment of Sailors, which was formed in the capital, is also interesting. It included sailors from the Naval Ministry's Security Battalion, the Moscow Naval Crew, and other naval units. Colonel A. Smirnov was appointed commander of the detachment, and Battalion Commissar F. Vladimirov was appointed commissar.

The detachment's baptism of fire took place on December 3, 1941. Given the task of preventing the enemy from crossing the Mozhaisk-Moscow highway, the Red Navy sailors took up defensive positions near the villages of Shchedrine, Davydovo, Sanino, and Solmonovo.

When the Nazis moved along the highway, the sailors let them get close and opened fire at point-blank range. Three attacks were repelled that day. The invaders retreated, suffering heavy casualties.

Moscow sailors fought bravely not only for the capital.

They also fought on other fronts.

After our troops launched a counteroffensive near Moscow, the naval detachment was transferred to the North-Western Front. Soon, it was renamed the 154th Separate Naval Rifle Brigade.

In February 1942, the brigade began combat operations as part of the 3rd Shock Army. After a forced march of about 250 kilometers through rough terrain, the brigade broke into the village of Shustino in the Leningrad region, where the enemy was entrenched. A battle ensued, during which

page 25

up to 450 fascist soldiers and officers were killed, and the rest retreated in panic.

A particularly fierce battle broke out for the village of Verkhnyaya Sosnovka. Heavy enemy mortar and machine-gun fire forced the sailors to lie down. However, Sergei Nikolaevich Vasilyev, the political officer of the 1st Company, stood up.

- For the Motherland! Go ahead! he called out to his comrades.

His company rose up, and then the entire battalion. Although he was wounded twice, the midshipman did not leave the battlefield. In hand-to-hand combat, he killed 25 Nazis. For this feat and other military achievements, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Many sailors from the Moscow unit participated in the Battle of Stalingrad and other battles.

In March 1943, the 154th Separate Marine Rifle Brigade was transformed into a Guards unit and became the 15th Guards Marine Rifle Brigade.

Do you remember, Crimea, the sailor Boykov?

Brutal fighting was taking place on one of the sectors of the Crimean front. A mortar battery that was defending an important strategic height was cut off from our unit by the enemy. Red Navyman D. Boykov and his crew had to defend the height at all costs until reinforcements arrived.

Two battalions of fascist infantry unleashed the full force of their fire on a handful of our brave men. In the unequal battle, Boykov's comrades fell heroically.

He was the only one left at the gun. Despite being wounded twice, the sailor continued to shoot at the invaders, sending shell after shell at them. When his ammunition ran out, Boykov grabbed his fallen comrade's submachine gun and began mowing down the Nazis as they climbed the hill. Faced with the relentless firepower, the enemy retreated.

Marine Boykov defended a small but important piece of his native land.

Destroyed five tanks!

On September 26, 1942, Baltic midshipman Yakov Chugunov participated in an amphibious assault on the enemy-occupied bank of the Neva River. He commanded a boat that transported both soldiers and ammunition. The operation took place in darkness and fog. When daylight returned and the fog lifted, the midshipman stopped transporting supplies and waited for the next night in a bunker with wounded soldiers who were preparing for the crossing.

But the situation changed dramatically, and the fascist tanks moved towards the bunker. Chugunov noticed this in time. Without wasting any time, he grabbed the remaining two anti-tank grenades and ordered the wounded to prepare several bundles of German grenades they had found in the bunker. Then he quickly crawled out of the bunker and found himself face-to-face with a rumbling enemy tank. Chugunov threw a grenade. There was an explosion, and the iron giant was engulfed in flames.

The midshipman, with a grenade in his hand, crawled along the trench to meet the second enemy tank. And now the second fascist tank was engulfed in flames.

About 100 meters behind the first two armored vehicles, five more tanks were advancing, followed by enemy machine gunners. Our wounded soldiers handed Chugunov bundles of grenades, and he skillfully threw them at the Nazi tanks. These armored monsters were destroyed by the fearless midshipman.

The enemy gunmen, left without cover, turned back.

At the cost of your own life

Sailor Mikhail Panikaha, a brave defender of Stalingrad, was not afraid of the Nazi tanks.

When the Nazis launched another tank attack on Panikaha's sector of the front, Mikhail took two Molotov cocktails, climbed out of the trench, and ran fifty meters to lie down near the highway.

When the lead tank was close enough, Panikaha threw a Molotov cocktail at it. The tank caught fire and exploded. The second tank swerved to the side and headed towards the spot where our sailor was hiding.

Panikaha picked up a second bottle of fuel and swung it to throw it at the tank. But then a fascist bullet shattered the bottle, and the flames engulfed the soldier.

Doused with burning liquid, Mikhail made an incredible effort of will to break through to the enemy tank and threw himself on it with a flaming torch. The explosion sounded like a salute to the amazing feat of the patriotic sailor... But only in 1990, on the eve of the 45th anniversary of Victory, by the Decree of the President of the USSR, the marine infantryman Mikhail Averyanovich Panikakha was posthumously awarded the highest honor - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

page 26

Permanent link to this publication: