Much has been written about the Great Patriotic War. But no matter how much has been said about the heroism of the Russian soldier, no matter how meticulously the monumental canvas of the Russian people's feat in this war has been drawn, it is likely that even decades later, living witnesses of those days will continue to add new details to the picture of the Great Patriotic War.

Today, we are giving space on the pages of our magazine to Colonel General M.N. TERESHCHENKO, a participant in the Great Patriotic War from November 1941 to May 1945.

Mikhail Nikolaevich began his military career as a commander of a rifle company in the 203rd Rifle Division. He served as a deputy battalion commander, a regiment intelligence officer, and a deputy chief of staff in the same 203rd Division. He was wounded twice during battles against the Nazis. After the war, he became a commander of a regiment and a division. He later held important positions in the military and the General Staff. In late 1988, he retired from his position as Chief of Staff, First Deputy Commander-in-Chief, and a member of the Military Council of the Western Strategic Direction. He was awarded 14 orders and many medals. He is an honorary citizen of the cities of Petrovka and Zeleny Yar. He is a professor at the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences...

We deliberately did not change the author's style, nor did we attempt to soften the military-style dry language of facts and figures with literary editing, which was typical of political reports at the time. We believed that this approach would uphold historical accuracy. This accuracy applies to the 203rd Rifle Red Banner Order of Suvorov Zaporozhye-Khingan Division, which received its first baptism of fire in the Battle of the Don, as well as to dozens of other divisions whose initial combat experiences were not always successful, but whose soldiers went on to earn enduring glory.

The summer of 1942 was hot and no less dangerous for the country than the previous summer. After experiencing the bitterness of retreat and the joy of victories near Moscow and in other sectors of the front, the Red Army once again engaged in fierce and bloody battles with the Nazi hordes on the southern wing of the Soviet-German front. The Germans were tightening the encirclement, and large forces of tanks and mechanized troops were advancing towards the Caucasus. It was a critical moment, and the enemy must be stopped at all costs. It was then, on July 20, that Stalin's harsh Order No. 227 was issued. In it, it was strictly and inexorably required:"...It's time to end the retreat. Not a step back! This should now be our main appeal. We must stubbornly defend every position, every meter of Soviet territory, to the last drop of blood, clinging to every scrap of our Soviet land, and defend it to the last opportunity."

The words of the order played a positive role. Although, of course, the decisive factor in changing the situation on the front was the arrival of reserves: three armies, the 62nd, 63rd, and 64th. Powerful forces were accumulating in the Don steppe. Our 203rd Rifle Division, formed in late May 1942 and assigned to the 63rd Army of the Stalingrad Front on July 10, had made a forced march from the Frolov area to the Don River.

In order to defeat the main group of troops of the 6th German Army under the command of Field Marshal F. Paulus in the middle bend of the Don, the commander of the Stalingrad Front, Lieutenant General V.N. Gordov, set the troops a combat task on August 17, 1942: to repel the enemy's onslaught and conduct a counter-offensive operation in the Ust-Khopersk direction.

At 2 o'clock. 20 min. On August 20, the advanced detachments of the 63rd Army, together with other units using improvised means, suddenly crossed the Don and captured the bridgehead. The blow was delivered so unexpectedly that the Italians could not come to their senses, they left their positions in a hurry.

On the night of August 22, the 203rd Division, with its main forces using improvised means (boats and rafts) and wading across the Don under heavy Italian fire, fought to expand its bridgehead on the right bank and penetrated their defenses to a limited depth. The first battle and initial success inspired the soldiers. However, the intensity of the fighting increased with each passing hour. The Italians, having recovered from the first blow and shock, repeatedly counterattacked the division's units under the machine-gun fire of the German defensive units, trying to drive them back into the Don. The soldiers fought bravely. For example, the squad leader of the 1st Rifle Company of the 592nd Rifle Regiment, Junior Sergeant Gubin, saw that the company commander had been killed and took over the command of the company, leading the soldiers forward. During the critical moments of the battle, the Communists Sviridov and Nikolaev, and the Komsomol members Efremenko and Chubenko, approached the rear of the fascist counterattack group, suddenly attacked them with heavy fire, and then captured 28 Italian soldiers and officers.

But not everything went well. On August 26, the division lost the battle. Here's how it happened.

On the night of August 26, the division received a revised task: to change the direction of the offensive, turn the battle formations of the two regiments 90 degrees, and launch an offensive with the immediate objective of liberating the settlements of Bakhmutkin and Rubashkin. Colonel Kashlyaev, the division commander, decided to carry out this task with two regiments: the 610th and the 619th.

On the appointed day, in the morning, after a short artillery preparation, the division's units launched an offensive. The 610th Regiment quickly captured the eastern outskirts of Bakhmutkin, while Colonel Sitnikov's regiment seized the northern outskirts of Rubashkin. The initial stages of the battle were successful. However, the regiments were unable to continue their advance due to the lack of support from the second echelons, the loss of command control, and the fact that the units were outnumbered and lacked adequate firepower and air cover.

At a critical moment, the command of the 610th Regiment was thrown into disarray. The regiment's commander, Major Rengach, fell behind the battle lines, effectively losing control of the situation and losing contact with his units. The regiment found itself in a dire situation. As a result of the Nazi counterattack, the regiment's units were forced to retreat in disarray. German aircraft, flying at low altitudes, unleashed a barrage of bullets on the fleeing Red Army soldiers. This loss of command, the commander's inaction, and the confusion and panic among the soldiers led to dire consequences. Over the course of ten days, from August 22 to 31, the division suffered heavy losses: almost 30 percent of its personnel were wounded, killed, or went missing.

However, the enemy also suffered significant losses in these battles: 5,900 soldiers were killed or wounded, 219 soldiers and officers were captured, 14 guns were destroyed, and 12 guns, 17 mortars, and 3,500 mines and shells were captured.

The fierce battles to hold and expand the bridgehead lasted ten days and nights (until August 29). As a result of these battles, three divisions of the 63rd Army captured a bridgehead of 500 square kilometers, defeated three enemy regiments (the 53rd and 54th regiments of the 9th Infantry Division, and the 37th Regiment of the 3rd Italian Infantry Division), inflicted heavy losses on the 2nd and 3rd Italian Infantry Divisions, and captured up to 1,200 prisoners. The German command was forced to send up to three divisions (the 79th and 62nd Infantry Divisions, as well as parts of the 22nd Panzer Division) to close the breakthrough. The 2nd Alpine Corps also arrived on the scene. As a result, the enemy transferred some of its troops and aircraft from the Don region to Stalingrad. This significantly eased the situation for the defenders of the Volga fortress.

For the 203rd Rifle Division, this was the first baptism of fire, the first victory, and the first setbacks. Yes, our commanders, political officers, and Red Army soldiers were bold and assertive in the battles, displaying unprecedented resilience, heroism, and personal bravery as they repelled hundreds of enemy counterattacks and inflicted significant damage. 150 soldiers of the division's units were awarded government decorations for their bravery during the crossing of the Don and in subsequent battles, including senior lieutenants 3. Aliyev, N. Buzyurgin, V. Sendek, V. Chernenko, and others. However, organizational measures were also taken: Colonel V. Kashlyaev, the division commander, and Major P. Rengach, the commander of the 610th Regiment, were removed from their positions, and Colonel G. Zdanovich and Major K. Korzhuev were appointed in their place.

The 203rd Division also took part in the recapture of many bridgeheads on the Dnieper (three times), the Dniester, the Tisza, and other rivers. The 203rd Rifle Division ended its combat journey in the Great Khingan Mountains, earning the name of the Khingan Division, and its commander, Major General Gavriil Stanislavovich Zdanovich, was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

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