When the battle near the village of Kryukovo ended. Battles for Kryukovo

The exposition dedicated to the events of the Great Patriotic War in the Museum of Zelenograd begins with a large model of the village of Matushkino and its environs. It was made by a native and creator of the museum of this village. At the time of the fighting on the last line of defense of the capital, he was almost nine years old. Boris Vasilyevich worked on this layout for three years.

It clearly shows the Leningradskoye Highway (horizontal strip at the top) and the current Panfilov Prospekt (almost a vertical strip closer to the right edge on the right), which was then called Kryukovsky Highway. It was along the Kryukovskoye Highway at the turn of November-December 1941 that the front line passed in this section of the defense of Moscow. To the right were Soviet troops, to the left - German. The road itself was mined by the Red Army during the retreat.

By December 1941, the village of Matushkino consisted of 72 houses. Its only street went from the current Panfilovsky Prospekt (approximately from the Beryozka stop) to the territory of the modern automobile plant and the Component plant. A little further south was the so-called settlement of 11 houses, which was completely destroyed during the fighting and occupation. Many houses were also damaged in the village of Matushkino itself. On the site of the destroyed huts, Boris Larin depicted their skeletons on his layout. In general, even such small details as the location of the craters formed after the bombing of the village, or individual units of military equipment, are not accidental on the layout. For example, on the outskirts of the village you can see a powerful cannon that the Germans were preparing to shell the capital, and on the Kryukovsky highway (approximately in the area of \u200b\u200bthe modern military registration and enlistment office) - a Soviet tank that miraculously broke into the village of Matushkino and shot this cannon, and then blew up on a mine. Another one of our tanks is "hidden" in a shelter behind the current "Bayonets" memorial. This is also no coincidence - there was a major tank battle in this area, which you will probably be told about on a tour in the museum.

The village of Matushkino, like the village at the Kryukovo station, was occupied by the Germans on November 30. The German tank column, accompanied by submachine gunners, approached the village from the side of Alabushevo, since the invaders could not break through along the Leningrad highway a few days earlier. By that time, our troops were no longer in the village.

The Germans basically drove the local residents out of warm houses into basements and dugouts, which they began to dig in advance in late summer - early autumn. There Matushkintsy lived in very difficult conditions and spent several days waiting for the liberation of the village. As Boris Larin recalled, they extracted water from ice, which they pricked on nearby ponds, getting out of their shelter at night. The house of the Larin family did not survive the occupation. Boris Vasilyevich kept his memory of him in this model of the hut.

The counteroffensive of the Soviet troops near Moscow began on December 5, and the official date for the liberation of Matushkino is considered to be the 8th. After the liberation, local residents were concerned about restoring the economy and burying the dead soldiers. On the layout of the village, you can see in its center a pyramid on the mass grave of the Red Army. Soldiers were also buried in the area of the current memorial "Bayonets". The choice of this place was largely due to practical considerations - after the fighting, a convenient funnel remained there next to the position of the anti-aircraft guns. In 1953, a decision was issued to enlarge the graves, and the remains of soldiers from the village of Matushkino were also transferred to a grave on the 40th kilometer of the Leningradskoye Highway. At the same time, the first full-fledged monument was opened here. In 1966, it was from here that the ashes of the Unknown Soldier were taken, which are in the Alexander Garden near the walls of the Kremlin. And in 1974, the “Bayonets” monument was opened at this place.

By the way, even during the occupation in the village of Matushkino, the burial of the dead German soldiers was arranged - crosses over their graves can also be found on the model of Boris Larin. But soon after the liberation, the remains of the Germans were dug up and buried again in the forest - away from human eyes.

The last line of defense passed through the territory of modern Zelenograd and its environs along the Lyalovo-Matushkino-Kryukovo-Kamenka-Barantsevo line. Behind the Leningrad Highway, the 7th Guards Rifle Division held the defense. From the Leningrad highway to the state farm "Red October" (the territory of the current 11th and 12th microdistricts) - the 354th rifle division. It was in honor of its commander, General (at the time of the fighting in the area of \u200b\u200bmodern Zelenograd - Colonel) Dmitry Fedorovich Alekseev, one of the avenues of our city. The Kryukovo station and its environs were defended by the 8th Panfilov Guards Rifle Division. The legendary Ivan Vasilyevich Panfilov himself did not reach our region - a few days before that in the village of Gusenevo, Volokolamsk district. South of Kryukovo were the 1st Guards Tank Brigade and the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps (near Malino and Kryukovo) and the 9th Guards Rifle Division (near Barantsevo, Bakeevo and the Obschestvennik state farm). All these units were part of the 16th Army under the command of Konstantin Rokossovsky. The army headquarters was literally a few hours in the village of Kryukovo, and then it was moved first to Lyalovo, and then to Skhodnya.

By the beginning of the winter of 1941, the situation at the front was critical. On December 2, Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Education and Propaganda of Nazi Germany, asked the German newspapers to leave space for the sensational report about the capture of Moscow. The German press in those days reported that Moscow was already visible through field glasses. Sabers with gilded hilts were made for Wehrmacht officers, with which they were supposed to march in a parade on Red Square. One of these sabers is on display at the Zelenograd Museum.

Here you can also see samples of German weapons found in our area. Basically, all these exhibits were brought by local residents. The Zelenograd Museum owes the appearance of a significant part of the exhibits to the search team led by Andrey Komkov, who actively worked in our area in the first half of the 90s. The skeleton of the German machine gun MG34 (the largest item in the center of the stand) the search engines had to not only dig out of the ground, but also straighten it. At the time of discovery, it was bent almost 90 degrees. The ammunition found in our area is still carried to the museum. They say that during the construction of the interchange at the "Bayonets" with the question "Do you have such a thing?" came almost every day.

This photo shows a German helmet, boxes for powder charges, a sapper shovel and a gas mask case that every German soldier had.

The Soviet army was significantly inferior to the German one in terms of weapons. Suffice it to say that the most common weapon in our troops was the Mosin rifle, which had been in service since 1891 - since the time of Alexander III.

The Germans were superior to us not only in weapons, but also in personal equipment. Of course, officers could boast of cameras and shaving accessories, but German soldiers also had, for example, a small pencil case with an antiseptic that disinfects water. In addition, pay attention to the metal medallions, which even now, 70 years after the war, make it possible to identify the newly found remains of German soldiers. For Soviet soldiers, as you know, the role of a medallion was played by a pencil case, in which they put (and sometimes, out of superstition, did not put) a piece of paper with a name. Such a pencil case, by the way, can also be seen in the Museum of Zelenograd.

Iron Cross Class II - German award from the Second World War.

Field medical bag of a German paramedic with a set of surgical instruments, dressings and medicines.

In a nearby showcase, items of German military life, including dishes, are presented. They say that after the war such dishes could be seen among local residents for a long time - retreating, the Germans abandoned their property. And in general, every self-respecting family had a German canister.

However, no matter how well the Germans were equipped, the hope for a quick end to the war played a cruel joke on them - they were not very ready to fight in winter conditions. The overcoat presented in the window, of course, cannot be touched, but it is clear that it is not designed for Russian cold. And December 41st turned out to be cold - on the day the counteroffensive of the Soviet troops began, the temperature dropped below 20 degrees.

In the same part of the hall, you can see a fragment of the interior of a village house of that time: a Viennese chair that was fashionable in those years, a bookcase with books and a bust of Lenin, and a loudspeaker on the wall. The same "plate" - only larger and with a bell - hung at the Kryukovo station. Local residents gathered at her place to listen to reports from the Soviet Information Bureau on the situation on the fronts.

The hall, which houses the military exposition of the Zelenograd Museum, created for the 50th anniversary of the Victory in 1995, is divided into two parts by a diagonal red carpet. This is both a symbol of the last frontier of Moscow's defense and the beginning of the path to a distant Victory. Next to the symbolic Eternal Flame are sculptural portraits of the generals who led the defense of the capital: the commander of the 16th Army Konstantin Rokossovsky and the commander of the Western Front (which included the 16th Army).

The bust of Rokossovsky is a draft design of the monument, which has been standing in the park of the 40th anniversary of the Victory since 2003. Its author is the sculptor Yevgeny Morozov.

Let's start with the 7th Guards Division. On November 26, she arrived from Serpukhov to Khimki, took up positions in the Lozhkov area, and there she took the first battles on our land. One of the regiments of the division was surrounded in those places. A 66-year-old local resident, Vasily Ivanovich Orlov, led the soldiers out of the encirclement along the paths known to him alone. After that, the division took up defense on the right side of the Leningrad highway and on December 8, 1941, liberated Lyalovo and other neighboring villages. A street in Skhodnya was named after the 7th Guards Division.

The division was commanded by Colonel Afanasy Sergeevich Gryaznov.

In the exposition of the Museum of Zelenograd, one can also see the tunic, cap and gloves of Gryaznov, in which he took part in the Victory Parade on June 24, 1945.

Political fighter Kirill Ivanovich Shchepkin fought as part of the 7th Guards Division near Moscow. Several times he miraculously escaped death, and later became a physicist, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. You will be told about how the political fighters differed from other soldiers on a tour in the museum.

The 354th Rifle Division was formed in the city of Kuznetsk, Penza Region. She arrived in our region on November 29 - December 1, having landed under heavy shelling at the Skhodnya and Khimki stations. The "Penzentsi" took up defensive positions between the 7th and 8th Guards Divisions - as already mentioned, from the Leningrad Highway to about modern Filaretovskaya Street.

On a genuine map, pierced by a fragment of a mine, the division's combat path is marked - from November 30, 1941 to September 1942 - from Moscow to Rzhev.

On December 2, 1941, one of the regiments of the 354th division under the command of Bayan Khairullin tried to liberate the village of Matushkino, but the baptism of fire ended in failure - the Germans managed to fortify themselves in the village and set up firing points. A few days after that were spent on reconnaissance, and during the counteroffensive that began on December 8, the 354th division nevertheless liberated Matushkino (and then immediately broke into Alabushevo and Chashnikovo) - a memorial sign is dedicated to this event not far from the Beryozka stop.

In the battles near Moscow, the division suffered huge losses. If on December 1, 1941, its composition consisted of 7828 people, then on January 1, 1942 - only 4393 people.

Among the dead was the political instructor of the division Alexei Sergeevich Tsarkov. His name is engraved first on a mass grave near the Kryukovo station. In the exposition of the Museum of Zelenograd, you can read his letter, which he sent to his wife and son on December 1: “Shura, I have the honor of defending the heart of our Motherland, the beautiful Moscow. […] If I stay alive, I will send a letter.” Nearby is a funeral dated December 6 ...

The central episode of the battles at the last line of defense of Moscow were, of course, the battles for the Kryukovo station. The village under her was the largest settlement on the territory of modern Zelenograd - it consisted of 210 houses and about one and a half thousand inhabitants. At the end of November, the section of the railway from Skhodnya to Solnechnogorsk was defended by armored train No. 53, equipped in Tbilisi. In the Museum of Zelenograd, you can see the original battle sheet of the armored train, the issue of which dated November 27 tells about the battle with German tanks at the Podsolnechnaya station. It is noteworthy that for reasons of secrecy, the names of the stations are given in this text in abbreviated form: Podsolnechnaya - P., Kryukovo - K. In the last days of November, the railway in Kryukovo was partially dismantled, and the station buildings were destroyed, and the armored train left towards Moscow. Subsequently, he fought on the North Caucasian front, where he ended his military career.

Very stubborn battles were fought for Kryukovo. For 9 days, the station changed hands eight times, sometimes changing the “owner” several times a day. Local residents recalled that, sitting in their shelters, they heard either Russian or German speech. The first attempt to release was made on December 3, but bogged down. After that, the forces were sent to receive intelligence about the location of enemy firing points. In addition, tank destroyers crawled into the village at night - they threw Molotov cocktails on equipment and houses occupied by the Germans. The next attack of our troops on Kryukovo happened on December 5, for this a task force was created, which was personally commanded by the commander of the 8th division, Vasily Andreevich Revyakin, who replaced the deceased Panfilov at this post. Kryukovo was finally liberated only by the evening of December 8th. After the fighting, a huge amount of equipment remained here, which the Germans abandoned, rapidly retreating, so as not to be surrounded.

Despite the fact that the Germans spent quite a bit of time here, they managed to mark themselves in Kryukovo and other settlements by executing local residents. For example, a Russian language teacher from the village of Kryukovo and the chairman of the Kamensky collective farm were executed. The Germans left their bodies on the street and did not allow them to be removed - to intimidate the rest.

In 1943, the artist Gorpenko painted the first known painting, The Battle for Kryukovo Station. These days it can be seen at the exhibition dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the battle for Moscow in the exhibition hall of the Zelenograd Museum in the 14th microdistrict. The main exposition of the museum presents the modern work of the artist Sibirsky. It, of course, should be taken precisely as a work of art, and not a historical document.

By the way, since we are talking about works of art, let us also recall the famous song “A platoon is dying near the village of Kryukovo”. Surely many Zelenograd residents are interested to know if it is dedicated to our Kryukovo. There is no single answer to this question. There are several settlements with this name in the vicinity of Moscow, but in the context of the Great Patriotic War, our Kryukovo is, of course, the most famous. And it doesn't matter that in 1938 it received the status of a village - this is an acceptable "inaccuracy" for a song. However, according to the author of the text of this song, Sergei Ostrovoy, the village of Kryukovo in his work is a collective image.

One of the most famous participants in the fighting in the Kryukovo region was the senior lieutenant of the Panfilov division Bauyrzhan Momyshuly, who commanded first a battalion, and then a regiment. In early December, he was wounded, but did not go to the hospital. In the photo below, he is in the center of the frame.

Momyshuly is the protagonist of Alexander Bek's story "Volokolamsk Highway". After the war, he himself became a writer. Among his works is the book “Moscow is behind us. Notes of an Officer" and the story "Our General" about Ivan Vasilyevich Panfilov. There is a monument to Bauyrzhan Momyshuly near the former school No. 229 near the Kryukovo station, and his name was inherited by school No. 1912, which a few years ago included the former 229th school.

The commissar of the regiment under the command of Momyshuly was Pyotr Vasilievich Logvinenko, whose name is immortalized in the name of the street between the 14th and 15th microdistricts. In 1963, Logvinenko moved to Zelenograd and spent the rest of his life here, being an active participant in the veterans' movement. His portrait and some personal items can also be seen at the exhibition of the Zelenograd Museum in the 14th microdistrict.

General Panfilov, unfortunately, did not reach our lands, but two other, no less famous military leaders took part in the battles in the Kryukovo region: the future Marshal of the Armored Forces Mikhail Efimovich Katukov and the commander of the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps, Lev Mikhailovich, who died on December 19, 1941 Dovator.

The cavalry played an important role in the defense of Moscow. In the conditions of a snowy frosty winter, light, maneuverable cavalry often turned out to be more reliable and effective in battles than equipment.

And Dovator and Katukov were not just colleagues, but also friends. The Museum of Zelenograd presents a cavalry cloak, a Kubanka hat and a bashlyk (a headdress tied over a hat), which Dovator presented to Katukov. These items were transferred to our museum in 1970, after the death of her husband, with the words “on your land it was presented, and you should keep it,” Ekaterina Sergeevna Katukova handed over.

The counter-offensive of our troops, which began on December 5, in many respects turned the course of the Great Patriotic War. On December 8, Kryukovo, Matushkino, Lyalovo, and other villages in the vicinity of Zelenograd were finally liberated, on December 12 - Solnechnogorsk, on the 16th - Klin, on the 20th - Volokolamsk. Joyful events at the fronts, of course, were reflected in the Soviet press. At one time, a whole pack of newspapers of those times was found at a dacha in Mendeleevo - some of them can be seen by visitors to the museum.

The military exposition of the Museum of Zelenograd presents many more interesting items: a soldier's tunic of 1941, the already mentioned “medallion” of a Red Army soldier, personal belongings of the commander of the 354th division Dmitry Alekseev. Here you can learn about the conflict between Zhukov and Rokossovsky, hear the story of Erna Silina, a resident of the village of Aleksandrovka, who became a nurse in the Panfilov division at the age of 16 and went through the entire war, and study weapons from the war.

The exposition "Where the Unknown Soldier Died" occupies a very small area, but has great depth. Therefore, we advise you not only to visit the military hall of the Zelenograd Museum, but be sure to do it with a guided tour. All the necessary information about the opening hours of the museum and the conditions for visiting is presented on the website of the institution. Recall that the Museum of Zelenograd also has permanent exhibitions "History of the native land", "" and "".

Prepared by Pavel Chukaev. Photos by Vasily Povolnov

We thank Svetlana Vladimirovna Shagurina and Vera Nikolaevna Belyaeva for their help in preparing the material.

Zelenograd.ru continues to remember history day by day. The battles took place in those places where modern Zelenograd grew up decades later.

How did ordinary people survive this time, residents of Kryukovo and its environs - families in which men went to the front, children who are now 80-90 years old? What was December 2, 1941, like for them?

Soldiers in camouflage suits go on the attack to a village near Moscow, occupied by Nazi troops

Vladimir Rumyantsev: “The Germans ruled the village of Kamenka for eight days”

Vladimir Alexandrovich Rumyantsev, as a teenager, survived the period of German occupation of the village of Kamenka near Kryukovo, which German troops occupied on December 1. In his memoirs “Fights in Kamenka. View of a teenager ”(from the book by A.N. Vasilyeva“ Compatriots ”, a collection of memoirs of the inhabitants of Kryukovo and the surrounding villages), he says:

The front is getting closer every day. […] Our family moved to a bomb shelter dug into the mountain in our area. Nine people were accommodated on the bunks, they were warmed by an iron stove, which was heated around the clock. Snow was melted on it, getting water for a newborn sister who was born under the roar of cannonade in "Rukavishka" - that's what everyone called our hospital [after K.V. Rukavishnikov, who built it near Kryukovo at the end of the 19th century, now it is the Moscow Regional Hospital for war veterans].

There were sappers in our house. They mined the railroad. They came in the evening tired and hungry. Mom cooked them potatoes, gave them tea. There were six of them. Once only four came. From their conversations, we understood that two of them had been blown up by their mines when they were bombed by German planes.

According to the cards, the population was given flour and kerosene. Flour helped us out a lot later. For eight days, while the Germans ruled the village of Kamenka, we baked unleavened cakes on the stove, washing them down with boiling water from melted snow.

On the evening of November 30, green figures of the Germans appeared at the edge of the forest. A machine gun fired from the Kamensky hillock, and they quickly disappeared into the forest. Obviously, it was intelligence. The big grandmother's house was occupied by the militias. They were in civilian clothes, workers of Moscow factories, all of respectable age. Grandmother put the samovar, my brother and I helped her as best we could. I remember how one of the militias said: "Here, mother, defend Moscow, they gave each a dagger and a rifle for two."

Soviet officers at dinner in a village near Moscow, winter 1941-1942.

We went to the dugout, and at night the shooting started. On the morning of December 1, the Germans were in charge in Kamenka. Motors hummed in the yard. The German field headquarters was located in the grandmother's house. Our little house was destroyed by a direct hit from a mine. For seven days and nights we sat without getting out in the dugout - nine people, my brother and I - boys and a chesty nine-day-old cousin, the dog Alma - under the bunk. At night, our door to the dugout was fired upon from a machine gun by a German sentry guarding a field telephone cable in a ravine. An iron stove and a saucepan, standing at the turn at the door, were pierced by bullets.

On the morning of December 8, heavy shooting arose. When the shooting died down a little, we got out of the dugout. The first thing we saw were our fighters in white coats, with machine guns in their hands, who were running towards Andreevka. One of ours asked a passing Red Army soldier: “Can the Germans return?” He replied, "They can." “What are we to do?” He said: “Go away,” and ran on, catching up with his people.

The villagers got out of the cellars and dugouts, from whom we learned that the Germans shot Lesha Razbitsky because he ran from house to house, that they shot on the denunciation of the chairman of the collective farm Yaroslavtsev, executed my uncle's friend Grisha Gorchakov under the bridge. He had a medal "For Courage" in the Finnish war. He was a tanker, and we boys looked at him as a real hero.

German cleansing of the village, 1941

They said that in Kamenka there was a White Finnish battalion that fought on the side of Germany. Everyone was betrayed by a "German woman" - a German teacher who lived in an apartment in our village with a huge German shepherd. When and where it came from, no one really knows.

Grandma's house was blown up, ours was smashed by a mine - the adults decided to leave the village. Grandma was in charge. They made a sled out of my skis, loaded a bag of flour and some kind of linen suitable for diapers for a newborn sister. Under fire, they left the village and walked across a snow-covered field towards the village of Kutuzovo.

On the field we saw the corpses of our fighters already covered with snow - the result of a morning attack in the forehead on the village of Kamenka. Climbing the Kutuzovsky hillock, we came under shelling, fell into the snow, from above we were piled with the tops of pines. Then we walked for a long time along the road towards Firsanovka. I do not remember the name of the village where we ended up in the location of the military unit. We were placed in a hut, warmed up, fed with buckwheat porridge. We, the boys, were given a piece of sugar. Then the commissar gathered the adults and wrote, from their words, an act about the atrocities of the Nazis in the village of Kamenka, which was signed by members of our family - the Toloknovs, Pavlovs, Rumyantsevs. The act was published in the central newspapers and broadcast on the radio.[…]

A Soviet soldier next to a wrecked German tank Pz.Kpfw.III in the village of Kamenka, January 1942

FROM THE ARCHIVE OF THE ZELENOGRAD HISTORICAL MUSEUM / WARALBUM.RU

Then we were loaded onto a car and taken to Khimki, from where we got to Moscow by train. An evacuation center was organized at the Leningradsky railway station, where we were given a direction to the Tomilino station and settled in an empty house in which we lived until the end of February 1942.

On the twentieth of February, we returned to our native village. We were sheltered by the neighbors Tarasovs in their surviving house, where we lived for several months as one big family. On the streets of the village of Kryukovo and the village of Kamenka there were cars and tanks abandoned by the Germans.

In Kamenka, in a clearing behind the fire shed, where we played football before the war, the corpses of our soldiers lay in piles covered with tarpaulin. There was no way to bring them to the ground because of the severe frosts, only in the spring they were put in a large pit of a burnt collective farm vegetable store and sprinkled with earth.

So a mass grave was formed, over which now stands a monument to the defenders of Moscow. Then the corpses of our soldiers found in the forest and ravines were buried there.

Now, when I come to the mass grave and, after dusting the memorial plaque, I reread the 35 names engraved on the marble slab, I involuntarily recall those distant days. I remember how they read these names, extracting pieces of paper from the black boxes of soldiers' medallions. Only 35 families received the sad news. The rest (and there are ten times more of them) are buried as unknown...

On December 1, 2 and 3, the troops of the 16th Army fought with the main grouping of German troops advancing along the Leningrad and Volokolamsk highways. German shock groups were concentrated, including in the area of Lyalovo, Alabushevo, Kryukovo, Bakeevo - the 5th, 11th tank and 35th infantry divisions.

“During December 2 and 3, the enemy managed to capture Kryukovo, where the fighting took place on the streets, by extreme exertion of forces and means. But in the rest of the front, all enemy attempts to break through the location of our units ended in failure, while he suffered heavy losses, ”Marshal Shaposhnikov wrote in a 1943 study.

After the Germans captured Kamenka on December 1, the regiments of the Panfilov division and the 44th cavalry division occupied the defense line of the village of Krasny Oktyabr and the Vodkachka pond (now School Lake) - the Kryukovo station, Skripitsyno - the Kryukovka river (between Kamenka and Kutuzov), according to Zelenograd historian Igor Bystrov. The 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps of Dovator was withdrawn to the reserve of the 16th Army and located in the Elino-Nazarevo-Dzhunkovka area.

On December 2, the enemy fiercely attacked the positions of the Panfilovites, trying to capture Kryukovo and bringing into battle fresh reserves of infantry and dozens of tanks from Aleksandrovka and Andreevka, with air support. At 13:15, a group of 18-20 aircraft bombed the positions of the 1075th regiment, and it began to retreat, losing up to 50% of the fighters in the battalions. Two battalions were surrounded.

“In the village of Kryukovo, the regiment […] wages continuous bloody battles for 6 days, three companies are surrounded by the enemy in stone buildings, more than once a tank landing rushes against the enemy ...”, then wrote the commander of the 1073 regiment, Baurdzhan Momysh-uly, about events 2, 3 and 5 December.

The correspondence between the commanders of the formations was preserved in the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense - it was on leaves from a school notebook:
- "Tov. Katukov. I ask you to urgently support 1075 joint ventures with your reserve. The enemy is strongly pressing him in the direction of Andreevka. Major General Revyakin.
- “To Major General Revyakin. I push three tanks from Kutuzovo into the grove east. Malino to repel tanks from Kryukovo. The enemy launched an attack on my left flank in the Ladushkino area, and turned his entire reserve there. Major General Katukov. 2.12.41 13.50.

Commander of the 4th (1st Guards) Tank Brigade, Major General of the Tank Forces Mikhail Efimovich Katukov (far left in the foreground) at the observation post

The 354th Rifle Division of Alekseev fought for Matushkino, Savelki and Bolshie Rzhavki - it arrived at the Skhodnya station on the night of November 30 from the reserve and immediately came under bombardment by enemy aircraft, which kept the railway under control. Rokossovsky, to whom Alekseev reported about the arrival, was glad of the replenishment. However, it turned out that the division arrived in summer uniforms and was very poorly armed: for more than 9,200 people there were only about 400 rifles, 19 machine guns and 30 cannons. Valenki and warm underwear arrived in the division only on December 7th. During December 1-6, she lost more than 1,100 people, including from frostbite.

The next anniversary of the counter-offensive of the Red Army near Moscow, which began on December 5, 1941, is a good reason to look objectively at the true scale of the feat of the fighters and commanders of the Panfilov division.

The efforts of the "myth-fighters" led to the fact that the "anti-legend" they created obscured the space of real history in the perception of many of our fellow citizens. Recently, much has been written about the battles of November 16-17, 1941 in the area of Dubosekovo-Shiryaevo-Nelidovo, when during the German offensive on Moscow, several thousand Panfilovites showed truly massive heroism, staunchly fighting Nazi tanks. But do not forget that the Panfilov division defended the capital for about two months, starting from the October battles near Volokolamsk and up to the beginning of December, when it held a dramatic defense near Kryukovo. This is exactly how the Muscovites perceived the Panfilovites at that time: as those heroes who, in a deadly fight, stopped the invaders at the last defensive line and defended Moscow. Important details about these events were found in the archives of the Commission on the History of the Great Patriotic War of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

By the beginning of the battles for Kryukovo, the Panfilovites were already quite officially called that. November 18, 1941, on the day of the death of Major General Ivan Vasilievich Panfilov, the 316th Rifle Division, which he commanded, was transformed into the 8th Guards Rifle Division; On November 23, the division received the honorary name Panfilovskaya. And the then Kryukovo, the village and the station, has been located within the boundaries of Moscow, in Zelenograd, for a long time, since 1970. In 1941, it was believed that this area was located 22 kilometers northwest of the capital. And yet very disturbing circumstances of the place ...

On November 30, after several days of bloody defense in the village of Sokolovo, the remnants of the Panfilov division retreated to a new line - to Kryukovo. The battles here lasted for a week - from 1 to 8 December. As a participant in those battles, Kazakh Baltabek Dzheptysbaev, recalled, "there are few old Panfilov soldiers left." Another Panfilov member, L.N., recalled why this happened. Kurganov: "The regiment is battered. Out of 2.5-3 thousand, about 600-700 people remained in the regiment." In the 1073rd regiment, commanded by senior lieutenant Bauyrzhan Momysh-Uly, there were only about 200 people left.

On December 2, the Germans still managed to break into Kryukovo. Fierce street fighting ensued, the Panfilovites fought for every house. Commissar of the 1073rd regiment Pyotr Logvinenko said in December 1946: "Kryukovo passed from hand to hand. From December 1st to December 7th, we went on the attack every day. At four zero-zero, as a rule, we went on the attack" .

On both sides, mainly melee weapons were used: machine guns, grenades, and from artillery - anti-tank and regimental guns on direct fire. The Germans, having taken possession of the village, immediately created a powerful defensive knot. An attempt to drive the Germans out of Kryukov on the night of December 2-3 was unsuccessful. The enemy, having concentrated two battalions of infantry and up to 60 tanks, offered stubborn resistance. German tanks were in ambush in destroyed houses or were buried in the ground, firing aimed at our advancing units.

These days, severe frosts began near Moscow, the temperature dropped to minus 37. From the air, the positions of the Panfilovites were attacked by Nazi aircraft. “What is the worst thing: we cursed the clear weather near Moscow, we hated the clear weather. But here (near Kryukovo) there is a blizzard and a snowstorm, but they still fly and hit and hit,” said Dmitry Potseluev-Snegin, in those days commander of the artillery battalion of the 857th artillery regiment.

Panfilov's memories of Kryukovo are the harsh reality of an unimagined feat, once again confirming the inexorable rightness of the poet Mikhail Kulchitsky, who died at the front: "War is not fireworks at all, but simply hard work." Here is what their participant A.S. said about those battles in October 1942. Trefilov: "I reached a stone building, through a curtain of fire. There was a mortar attack. I ran across the field, ran up to the building. There was an ambulance wagon. They were killed. I saw one guy killed, whom I saw alive the day before. He went down into the pit. into the snow."

There were also episodes that later ended up in a famous Soviet song about the village of Kryukovo to the verses of Sergei Ostrovoy: "All the cartridges have run out, there are no more grenades." Panfilovka Z.A. Bondarina said in August 1942: “Near Kryukov, our division fought a long and difficult battle. The front line of defense was occupied by brick sheds, these brick sheds will forever be remembered by the Panfilovites. People dropped out, sometimes there was not enough cartridge. After the battles, remembering them, we they liked to hum "Ten rifles for the whole battalion" ... But they held on tight, they did not leave.

The song about ten rifles to the melody "The blue ball is spinning, spinning" for the front-line film collection was performed in 1941 by Boris Chirkov. The poems of Vasily Lebedev-Kumach were not at all ceremonial:

Ten rifles for the whole battalion,
Each rifle has the last cartridge.
In torn overcoats, holey bast shoes
We beat the Germans on different paths.

But even in such extreme conditions, people fought ingeniously, putting the Nazis to a standstill. Here is the story of Panfilov's P.V., recorded in December 1946. Tatarkova: “The scout Protasov especially distinguished himself. We had to take an observation post at the brick factory in Kryukovo, from here to observe. Protasov, despite the fact that this place was cut off by the Germans, German machine guns were hit by crossfire, he climbed into the chimney of the brick factory. a number of soldiers from the infantry and other battalions climbed in. From there he conducted surveillance and transmitted the command. "

The end of the story about the battles of the Panfilovites near Kryukovo turned out to be optimistic. On December 4, by 17:00, the division received reinforcements in the amount of 380 people. Commissar Logvinenko recalled: “Selective people were sent to us - Siberians. They came to the regiment 80 people, I would give two thousand of any other people for them. (...) We didn’t even have time to write down the names of all of them, because they came in such in a situation where there was no time to write or read, all that was needed was to shoot.

On December 5, fighters from the Momysh-Uly regiment managed to capture the oven and the very sheds of the brick factory. And a day later, the position of the Nazis became vulnerable. Here is the story of A.M., recorded in December 1946. Vinogradova: “On December 6, 1941, at 12 o’clock in the morning, we began to conduct artillery preparation for Kryukov, and the Headquarters of the High Command gave us a solid replenishment. The Eres units appeared for the first time, and they rendered us a very great service. a map of the field, a certain area, and this battery should literally mix with the ground everything that is there - both living and dead."

Panfilovets F.D. Tolstunov in October 1944 briefly described the victorious outcome of those December battles: “On the night of the seventh to the eighth, they went on the offensive. They drove the Germans out of the Kryukovo station, captured 18 tanks. drive the Germans and drive them to Istra."

As Commissar Logvinenko recalled, after the division had already been sent to the reserve for resupplying, a solemn meeting was held in Kryukovo, and those few Panfilovites who did not manage to receive awards for the October battles and remained alive in November-December were presented with their combat orders.

Text: Konstantin Drozdov
Photo: George Zelma / ITAR-TASS

In a counteroffensive near Moscow.

Opponents Commanders

K. K. Rokossovsky
I. V. Panfilov
L. M. Dovator
M. E. Katukov

Walter Fischer von Weikerstal
Walter Scheller
Gustav Fehn

Side forces Losses

Disposition of the parties

The Soviet troops were represented by formations of the 16th Army of Lieutenant General K.K. Rokossovsky and were located as follows (from the left flank to the right):

44th Cavalry Division (then near the village of Kamenka; now in the southern part of the Kryukovo region);
8th Guards Rifle Division (then in the area of the village of Kryukovo; now in the areas of Kryukovo, Staroe Kryukovo and a small, southern section of the Silino region);
354th Rifle Division (then near the villages of Alabushevo and Matushkino; now in the Silino and Matushkino regions).

Along the Leningrad highway (the modern northern border of the city) in the area of \u200b\u200bthe memorial complex "Bayonets" there was a separation line with the 7th Guards Rifle Division).

German troops were represented (from the left flank to the right) mainly by the 35th Infantry Division (north of the railway) and the 11th Panzer Division (south). To the south was the 5th Panzer Division.

Battle progress

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The turn of the autumn - winter of 1941 was marked by a breakthrough in the area of the village of Kryukovo of two German military groups operating in different directions. The 8th Guards Rifle Division named after I.V. Panfilov, the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps of General L.M. Dovator and the 1st Guards Tank Brigade of General M.E. Katukov entered the battle. It was here, at the Kryukovo station, after the capture of the villages of Peshki and Nikolskoye by fascist troops, that the headquarters of the 16th Army was moved.

Memory

"Near the village of Kryukovo" (song by poet Sergei Ostrovoy and composer Mark Fradkin, 1974)

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Notes

Literature

Desyatov L. L., Gorun P. N.// Breakthrough of the prepared defense by rifle formations (Based on the experience of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945). Digest of articles. - M .: Military Publishing House, 1957. - 376 p.

An excerpt characterizing the Battles for Kryukovo

Princess Mary looked at him in surprise. She didn't even understand how she could ask about it. Pierre entered the office. Prince Andrey, who had changed a lot, had apparently recovered, but with a new, transverse wrinkle between his eyebrows, in civilian clothes, stood opposite his father and Prince Meshchersky and argued heatedly, making energetic gestures. It was about Speransky, the news of his sudden exile and alleged betrayal of which had just reached Moscow.
“Now they judge and accuse him (Speransky) of all those who admired him a month ago,” said Prince Andrei, “and those who were not able to understand his goals. It is very easy to judge a person in disfavour, and to dump on him all the faults of another; but I will say that if anything good has been done in the current reign, then all good things have been done by him - by him alone. He stopped when he saw Pierre. His face trembled and immediately assumed an angry expression. “And posterity will give him justice,” he finished, and immediately turned to Pierre.
- Well, how are you? You’re getting fatter,” he said animatedly, but the newly appeared wrinkle was cut even deeper on his forehead. “Yes, I’m healthy,” he answered Pierre’s question and grinned. It was clear to Pierre that his smile said: "I'm healthy, but no one needs my health." Having said a few words with Pierre about the terrible road from the borders of Poland, about how he met people in Switzerland who knew Pierre, and about Mr. Dessalles, whom he brought from abroad as an educator for his son, Prince Andrei again vehemently intervened in the conversation about Speransky going on between two old men.
“If there had been treason and there would have been evidence of his secret relations with Napoleon, then they would have been publicly announced,” he said with vehemence and haste. - I personally do not like and did not like Speransky, but I love justice. Pierre now recognized in his friend the all too familiar need to worry and argue about a matter alien to him only in order to drown out too heavy intimate thoughts.
When Prince Meshchersky left, Prince Andrei took Pierre by the arm and invited him into the room that had been reserved for him. The bed was broken in the room, suitcases and chests lay open. Prince Andrei went up to one of them and took out a box. From the box he took out a bundle of paper. He did everything silently and very quickly. He got up, cleared his throat. His face was scrunched up and his lips were pursed.
“Forgive me if I bother you ...” Pierre realized that Prince Andrei wanted to talk about Natasha, and his broad face expressed regret and sympathy. This expression on Pierre's face annoyed Prince Andrei; he continued resolutely, loudly and unpleasantly: “I received a refusal from Countess Rostova, and rumors reached me about your brother-in-law seeking her hand, or something like that. Is it true?
“Both true and not true,” began Pierre; but Prince Andrei interrupted him.
“Here are her letters and her portrait,” he said. He took the bundle from the table and handed it to Pierre.
“Give this to the Countess…if you see her.”
“She is very ill,” said Pierre.
"So she's still here?" - said Prince Andrew. “And Prince Kuragin?” he asked quickly.
- He left a long time ago. She was dying...
“I am very sorry about her illness,” said Prince Andrei. He chuckled coldly, evilly, unpleasantly, like his father.
- But Mr. Kuragin, therefore, did not honor Countess Rostov with his hand? - said Prince Andrew. He snorted his nose several times.
“He could not marry because he was married,” said Pierre.
Prince Andrei laughed unpleasantly, again reminding himself of his father.
“Where is he now, your brother-in-law, may I ask?” - he said.
- He went to Peter .... However, I don’t know,” said Pierre.
“Well, it doesn’t matter,” said Prince Andrei. - Tell Countess Rostova that she was and is completely free, and that I wish her all the best.
Pierre picked up a bundle of papers. Prince Andrei, as if remembering whether he needed to say something else or waiting for Pierre to say something, looked at him with a fixed look.
“Listen, you remember our dispute in Petersburg,” said Pierre, remember about ...
“I remember,” Prince Andrei hastily answered, “I said that a fallen woman must be forgiven, but I did not say that I could forgive. I cant.
- How can you compare it? ... - said Pierre. Prince Andrew interrupted him. He shouted sharply:
“Yes, to ask for her hand again, to be generous, and the like? ... Yes, it is very noble, but I am not able to follow sur les brisees de monsieur [follow in the footsteps of this gentleman]. “If you want to be my friend, don’t ever talk to me about this… about all this. Well, goodbye. So you pass...
Pierre went out and went to the old prince and princess Marya.
The old man seemed livelier than usual. Princess Mary was the same as always, but out of sympathy for her brother, Pierre saw in her joy that her brother's wedding was upset. Looking at them, Pierre realized what contempt and anger they all had against the Rostovs, realized that it was impossible for them to even mention the name of the one who could exchange Prince Andrei for anyone.
At dinner, the conversation turned to the war, the approach of which was already becoming obvious. Prince Andrei spoke incessantly and argued now with his father, now with Desalles, the Swiss educator, and seemed more animated than usual, with that animation, which Pierre knew so well the moral reason.

On the same evening, Pierre went to the Rostovs to fulfill his assignment. Natasha was in bed, the count was in the club, and Pierre, after handing over the letters to Sonya, went to Marya Dmitrievna, who was interested in finding out how Prince Andrei received the news. Ten minutes later Sonya came in to Marya Dmitrievna.
“Natasha certainly wants to see Count Pyotr Kirillovich,” she said.
- Yes, how can I bring him to her? It’s not tidied up there,” said Marya Dmitrievna.
“No, she got dressed and went out into the living room,” said Sonya.
Marya Dmitrievna only shrugged her shoulders.
- When this Countess arrives, she completely exhausted me. Look, don’t tell her everything, ”she turned to Pierre. - And scolding her spirit is not enough, so pitiful, so pitiful!

From November 30 to December 8, 1941, the front line passed through the territory of modern Zelenograd. Here, in the vicinity of the then villages of Matushkino and Kamenka and the village of Kryukovo, was the last line of defense of Moscow. You can touch the events of those days by visiting the exposition "Where the Unknown Soldier Died" in the Museum of Zelenograd. In the virtual tour of the Infoportal, you will learn how many times during the fighting the Kryukovo station changed hands, where the inhabitants of Matushkino buried the dead Germans, and why the largest mass grave of the Red Army was arranged exactly on the 40th kilometer of the Leningradskoye highway.