Memoirs of veterans of the Red Army

Zhurnakov Alexander Matveevich

"Sapper is wrong once"

Edition - Moscow, Yauza-Eksmo, 2012

(abridged edition)

The Germans knew, of course, that we would cross the Dnieper, but they did not know in what sector. Our command is very smart. They built a real crossing, and a false one next door.

Our battalion got a false crossing, which makes noise, rattles, draws attention to itself. Nearby, 10-15 kilometers away, is the real one - pontoons, ferries, artillery support. We simulated busy traffic at our crossing.

The worst thing is reconnaissance in combat, when you call fire on yourself, and at this time others spot the enemy's firing points. At the crossing, the same thing - you pretend that you are crossing, but in reality you are only distracting the enemy.

Did you make models of tanks, cars? - No, there were no layouts.

What made the noise? - Sapper boats were made, rafts, ferries were made, they made an imitation of the pier. They didn't make a pontoon crossing, because they do it when there is success.

Volunteers landed on a bridgehead one and a half kilometers wide and 800 meters deep, they were not allowed further. The Germans began to concentrate their forces on us, and there, at the place of the real crossing, they weakened the defense, and ours began to give them a little rustle.

We made fewer losses on the main crossing, but those who provided the false crossing were practically doomed people. When the troops landed on the other side, 12 people were presented to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Then, two weeks after the landing, I found out that only two of those presented were still alive. Then we received the MdPA-3 and NLP pontoons, and the troops began to be transported over the bridge built over them.

A cable with booms was pulled upstream, because the Germans launched floating mines to destroy the crossings. Once they transported artillery, I look - a mine floats upstream. I had Sergeant Betin, he shot well from a carbine.

I say: “Sergeant Betin, do you see the float on the starboard side? Will you be able to blow it up with a shot? The gunners took hooks to push her away if they could not shoot her. I don't remember how many shots Betin fired, but he blew it up.

We landed on the right bank, the gunners thanked us, deployed their guns and immediately entered the battle. On the return flight, we were supposed to pick up the wounded on the left bank. While the wounded were being collected, I went ashore to stretch a little. I walked and walked, and I remembered what the gypsy told me.

As a child, I didn’t go to school yet, somehow the gypsies came to our village. The women came running, and I was standing on the sidelines barefoot, pants on a string. The old woman sits by the fire: - Boy, bring me brushwood, I'll tell you fortune.

I went, picked branches, but I was scared myself. - Come on, give me your hand! You will live 20 years!

Over time, this was forgotten, and then suddenly I remembered. They started crossing the Dnieper on September 23, and I was born on November 7. I think my 20 years are coming to an end, I will die soon. And look - he called out, touched the flesh of my right hand with a bayonet or a knife.

We fought off the Germans, who wanted to knock us off the bridgehead. I fired from my TT pistol and somehow did not notice the German, but my soldier hit him with the butt, and he jumped down. I didn’t even feel in a fever, how something burned my hand. When they sat down to swim back, one soldier remarked: “Commander, you have blood!”.

I look - for sure, and my hand immediately ached. They pulled it, bandaged it - the bone is intact, the hand moves. In one night I transported artillery five times and once paratroopers on NLP boats. I remember this, it happened once. That night I almost got court martialed.

We return after the fourth or fifth voyage, our ferry is all broken, striving to stand upright. We go empty, and carry us downstream directly to the Germans. I had a squad leader, junior sergeant Semyon Krakhmal, a former fisherman.

He says: “Commander, give it up. I will swim and feel the shallows with my feet. He wound a rope around his hand, rushed into the water and swam. We are carried down, and he swam to the shallows, felt it with his feet and began to pull us up to him. I pulled it up, we managed to correct the direction of movement a little. We approach our shore, I see that the ferry is broken, it needs to be repaired.

Maybe they didn’t reach the shore for 100 meters, I tell my Slavs to go down another 100 meters downstream, pull the ferry ashore and start repairs. I’ll go to the headquarters, report to the command, and send food at the same time.

I went ashore and ran right into the chief of artillery of the division to which we were attached. Major, I don’t remember the last name: - Where is my calculation?

They crossed over to the other side. - Come on, load the next one!

I can not. - Why can not you?!

The ferry is broken. He gave me a gun in the forehead: - If in 5 minutes the calculation is not loaded, I will shoot like a dog!

The situation is such that he will kill me and no one will even see or hear. He, of course, is heated, there his people are killed, shells are exploding, mines are being bombed from the air.

I answered “yes”, went downstairs, found my guys. He ordered them to settle down in the lowlands and repair themselves, and he himself went to the headquarters. I ran to the headquarters, but there was no one there, everyone was in the companies.

One political officer, party worker, over 60 years old, himself from Krasnodar. When our troops left Krasnodar, he joined the army, and the Germans brutally tortured his family for his father-commissar. Lying on an earthen couch, covered with an overcoat - he fell ill with malaria.

Who's there? - So-and-so.

What happened? Come on tell! - So-and-so.

Oh you boy! You climb into the bottle, because you did not follow the order. Need to imagine! And, I think, to hell with him, anyway, I will only live 20 years.

I went to the guys to help repair, and the political officer went to reassure the chief of artillery. We repaired the ferry, ate, took a little nap and again let's get ready for the next evening.

Didn't cross during the day? - As needed. In any case, the equipment was not transported during the day - they will kill it anyway. The Germans both bombed and fired at us, and when the neighbors went forward, the Germans stopped attacking us.

They began to throw up forces to us, but we, the sappers, did not go further. Early in the morning I went to the banks of the Dnieper, I look at the map - Derievka, a large village. The foreman of the sapper company sits on the shore and looks.

Chief, what are you looking at now? - Ti bachiv, now uncle proyshov? Cemy tattoo. That's what the war was like. Then his fate was like this - he drove to Derievka, and they met.

After the war, at a veterans' meeting, I learned that later this soldier was wounded, demobilized and worked at home as the chairman of a collective farm. Then, ten days later, when we strengthened the defenses on the right bank and moved on, a large pontoon bridge was built in our sector.

A very convenient place was on the other side: in the lowland you can land, and then there was a steep climb - there would be no direct fire. When a hillock blocks the path of a bullet, its damaging ability decreases. When I was discharged from the hospital in July 1944 and was returning to the front, I went to this place of crossing specifically for a walk.

I went ashore, no matter how you lift a handful of sand - there are 2 - 4 fragments in it. I don't know what kind of horror it was! One thing was good - the Germans muffled a lot of fish. Something to eat! Somehow, an inspector, a senior lieutenant, came from the brigade headquarters to see how things were going with us.

The offensive has already developed successfully, he walks, looks around. I invited him to eat with us. There was alcohol, we drank half a glass, and the cook put us a fried pike. “Oh, you live! Why don’t you send it to us, send the basket to our headquarters.” What there, there would be time!

After forcing the Dnieper, how did the war develop for you further? - We crossed the Dnieper south of Kremenchug, then there were terrible battles for it on the right bank. We got beat up there. They all did the same: demining, making passages, a field airfield once had to be prepared, roads and bridges built.

On a minefield, not under fire, in the rear, under the airfield, a site was being prepared. It was mined, but it was necessary to build a field airfield there. After the survey, he placed the people, they were working, and suddenly a signal with a flag. I come up: - What is it?

Look, I have never seen such mines. I don't know how to proceed. - Come on, move away! - Let's study. God knows, I've never seen them myself.

I carefully opened my fingers with my fingers to see if there was a surprise - more than one sweat came off me. Then I realized that such a harmless mine, only we did not know it. I was delighted, opened the lid and began to rise. He got up on his knees, leaned on this mine, and the lid slammed shut.

The lid hit the check, but the check did not pop out. I look at her - holding on a little. It exploded and I survived. I got up and I don't know if I'm alive or dead. The blood may have changed all over.

If you go back to 1943: were you prepared for operations in mobile barrier detachments?

POS? Why, they threw us like Swedes. In February 1944 we were building a bridge. Imagine, the Dnieper makes a sharp turn, the Germans, 10 combined arms and two mechanized divisions, fortified along the right bank.

Our forces crossed the river and held defenses there with the expectation of then passing along the coast. The command acted as in Stalingrad: Kravchenko's tank army and Konev's troops broke through and surrounded this German grouping.

Hitler ordered them not to surrender. We were at Konev, in the southern sector, in the 53rd Army, to which our 27th Brigade was attached. Somewhere off to the side was Tsybulevka, where Rotmistrov's army stood and prepared for a breakthrough. This army was transferred along the rocade, off-road from Tsybulevka to another place. There was a rivulet on the rocade, through which I built a bridge so that they could pass unnoticed.

The task was to build a bridge with the expectation of a load of 45 tons, it is clear that for tanks. At that time I did not know for which tanks we were building the bridge. Already almost finished, put signs, the road is almost done. A messenger arrives and sends an order to urgently appear at the headquarters. I left the old, took the young with me.

We came to the village, I ordered to refresh myself and went to the headquarters. Reported that the bridge is ready. - Okay, get the card! - got a card. Do you know Commander Nikolaev?

I know. Do you see this square?

I see. - Do you see the fashion show? - The fashion show was a narrow passage.

On one side of the cliff, on the other - a lake, tanks can not pass. - Your task is to close this passage, to prevent the German tanks from getting out of the encirclement.

Imagine such a picture - as soon as I took the door, he told me: - Come back! - He put his hand on my shoulder, pressed me to him and said: - Well, my boy, I hope you won't let me down ?!

An order is an order, I can hardly stand on my feet, I'm so tired. The car with mines is already standing, waiting. My friend Fedya Sokolov received the same task. We were going, and our tanks had already broken through there - Kravchenko from Vatutin and ours from the 5th Guards TA.

Hitler sent Manstein's army to release, where there were up to 600 armored vehicles. The Germans began to leave the encirclement, and Manstein met them. We are going there. Fedya, a friend, and says: - Sash, where are we going? They shoot from the right and left, they also shoot from the front and back.

Let's go. Maybe we'll find something. - Fedya separated from me, went to his site. I was near the villages of Ositnyazhka and Listvyanka. We are going, our car has broken down - the slopes have burst. We drag mines on ourselves, and each weighs 5 kilograms.

Each took two pieces over his shoulder, and some of the mines remained. A two-horse cart is coming towards me, and a soldier of our battalion is with her, but not mine. - Where?

Oh, there are Germans! - Where are you? Where is the commander?

Killed and the rest killed! - Well, stop!

No, I have my own commander. - We stopped him, I gave him a good suggestion where to go. I could just shoot him. We are barely dragging mines, and he flees to the rear. Immediately wrapped up, loaded the remains of the mines.

How were the mines laid then, near Listvyanka? - They put them in disorder, they threw them right under the tracks. How did the tanks go for a breakthrough? The passage is narrow - the Ferdinands went ahead, the infantry and the rest of the equipment were behind. There, a whole company of Klepikov died with us.

Such a long passage. The Germans almost connected, another one and a half to two kilometers, and they would have escaped, all these divisions. We go further, and it struck me on the cheek, I fell. From fear or shock. They ran, bandaged his face, rested up. The sister says that everything is in order, only a scratch. It was in the morning; got up and walked again.

And in the evening I really shied away in my left hand. Also fell. When I met my people half a year later, they told me that they dragged me to bury me, and I turned out to be alive, warm.

He lost a lot of blood, his sleeve was soaked all over, his face was bandaged. They dragged him to the infirmary, they look - he seems to be breathing. They made an injection - I opened my eyes, then they told me. They fed me with a spoon, then they sent me to a field hospital in the village of Elizavetgradka.

The hospital was in a German stable, with straw on the floor. The seriously wounded lay there. Those who were lighter - lay on the poles laid over the manger. People were stuffed like worms. I'm blowing bubbles.

I wanted to go to the toilet, I shouted “duck”. A young girl comes up, I’m at her: “What are you, ... like, what do you need?” She screamed and ran away. An elderly orderly came: “What are you doing? She does her own thing. You do not command here, you are not her commander and not a guy. Why are you screaming? Okay, I get it.

They bring in a captain friend on a stretcher, he commanded machine gunners. His leg dangles on his trousers, broken with a blank. They want to carry him for dressing, he is still alive. I lie down, put my head out of the straw and look. Sister passes by, he calls: - Sister!

What, dear? - Come to me.

What? - Lean towards me. She leaned over. - Lower. - He grabbed her with his hand and kissed her. - What are you, what are you, what are you!

Well, now you can die! I'll send a nurse now. - And she ran away. While she was running, they came with a stretcher, and he was already dead. Imagine, I'm lying here, and in the aisle there is such a story.

I crawled out of the barn, I want to go to the toilet. Where to go? I see, like a stack of firewood. I'm not lying at all. He leaned on his hand to get up, and there was something slippery at hand.

I looked, and these corpses lie in piles, naked, without linen. A pit was dug nearby, where they are put, one row with their heads there, another row here, and buried. It was called a mass grave. I still didn't think well. They see that the wound is serious - they bandaged it and took me to Znamenka, to the Kucherovka station.

We lie there on the floor, the windows are broken. In the morning I was already delirious, the temperature rose. Someone says: - Patient, get up! It's time to drop. - I opened my eyes, there is a nanny. - Sashko! What's wrong with you? - It was Shurka Kovalenko, we stopped at her apartment when we retreated.

She was friends with Fedya Sokolov, he was older than me, a handsome guy. What, I was a kid! Shura took my eyes with a cloth, wiped my mouth, and gave me something with a spoon. I closed my eyes again. After dinner, about five women came running.

Shura told them that such and such people were in the hospital. When we stood on the defensive near Kirovka, there were battles. In the gardens they had unexploded shells, mines, grenades. They were afraid to enter their homes. We cleared the gardens for them, and they brought us vodka - they adapted. They liked that we got everything done quickly.

Women brought me chicken, eggs, moonshine, they remembered me. I say: "I do not want!" And all around me: “Take it, commander, we’ll eat it!” Healthy men, thought. Left, they all ate. In Znamenka, it turned out that my wound could not be cured on the spot, and they sent me to Kharkov, and in Kharkov gangrene of the hand began.

They took me further, and on February 18 I ended up in Georgia, in Tbilisi. They washed me, and I ended up on the operating table. I’m lying in what my mother gave birth to, next to me they are already doing an operation: a fragment from the chest is removed under anesthesia. He doesn’t hear anything, but the body resists, and I’m lying next to him.

My arm, up to the shoulder, turned blue and swollen, swollen, and I hear, they say - amputation. I heard and shouted that I would not let my hand be cut. - How can you not? The attending physician knows about this.

Suliko was her name, I will never forget. I don't want to be handless!

You'll die, bitch! Bicho is Georgian for boy. - I'd rather die! There they whispered something and, in order not to fight with me, they began to ask all sorts of nonsense. Where does the Volga flow? They asked me to count to a hundred, and at that time they put on a mask - anesthesia.

I wake up in a few hours - the whole arm is in plaster, and there is a stick in it, part of the chest is also in plaster. It was called "airplane". I was in this cast for a month and a half. The doctor cleaned the wound and made incisions so that there was no infection and infected blood came out. The nerves and tendons were broken, but the bone was preserved. I’m lying, something constantly itches and moves under the cast, it smells terrible, it’s hard to lie down.

What is moving there? - I tell the doctor on the round. - It's worms. - How are the worms? Take them away!

They help you. - How do they help? “They eat pus,” they reassured, you know. Then, when the plaster was removed, the hair on the body grew to it from the inside.

The pain is terrible, I swear. Nurses, Georgian girls, unaccustomed, ran to the hospital commissioner to complain that the patient did not allow the cast to be removed. The commissioner of the hospital Major Sarjveladze came and said: - Why are you fighting here? You're not the commander here, you're sick here.

It hurts so much! - I know that it hurts, I would also say that it hurts if I were you. They are young girls, and you went through all the saints here!

So no patience! - What to do now? - Alcohol or cognac give! At night, an injection was made, brandy was poured and the plaster was removed along with the hair. And my hair was blond, not cut, they are not visible. They made a languette and for another month and a half or two I went with a scarf.

Therapeutic physical training was - to develop the fingers, first the tips, then several phalanges. It was done by paramedics or doctors who massaged their fingers. For hours, for hours! Why did they sympathize with me, because I quickly learned to speak Georgian.

They love it when people speak Georgian with them. Such a people. Then he came to the front, so he kept his hand under the harness. It hurts if you pull it off. It’s overgrown now, but I still can’t pull myself up on the horizontal bar. And then he loved to pull himself up.

I was already walking, and there were 13 of us in the ward. Such a terrible stink - everyone's wounds rot. He began to go outside, walk around the neighborhood. He walked away a little, saw a rose garden, fenced with wire. I stuck out my hand and picked some roses.

Brought it into the room - the smell became fresh, I liked it. I walked like this for three days, and the watchman caught me. I say: “Listen, dear, I'm from the hospital. It smells really bad in the ward, I need to put flowers on the nightstand.” He says: “Are you from the hospital? You should have said so from the start. I will give you myself. Okay, don't go like that again. I will put a bouquet of roses for you every morning.

Since then, I come every morning, pick up roses and put them on each bedside table in the ward. Even doctors put. Here they are, Georgians, what! I was also caught there as a deserter. I met the captain, I have already forgotten his last name. I went to visit him, in a uniform without shoulder straps. I went, I came back - a patrol, a sergeant and two submachine gunners.

Your documents? - Which documents? I'm from the hospital!

We don't know anything. - I'm an officer!

What kind of officer are you, no documents, no insignia. You are not our officer. The elder came. - Captain, take yours!

What's the matter? - You see, I'm from the hospital. Went to visit my friend.

Are you lying? Okay, he says to the sergeant. - Take him there. If he is from there, then he will be accepted there. And if not, then bring it here.

The Georgian watchman scolded me for leaving. The patrol sees such a case and left. See what Georgians?! He was discharged from the hospital, received documents stating that he was not fit for military service in peacetime, in wartime he was limitedly fit for the 2nd degree.

How did you manage to return to the front after being recognized as partially fit? - It's a long story. I ended up in my native battalion, I knew about it from the newspapers. I went home, and ended up in the battalion.

Why not home? Didn't fight, did they? - What should I do at home? I was a fool, young, I missed my people. I got to Kharkov well, somehow I ate. I knew that our troops were fighting somewhere in Moldova.

They did not let me into the echelons going towards the front. But lucky. At some station, a train approaches, people jump out from there to stretch themselves, maybe buy something - I see Captain Terekhov running. We studied with him in special training. Sasha, where are you from?

Anyway. - Where are you going? - I'm going to look for mine.

What, no one puts in the car? Went! We come to the officer's car. - Comrade officers, this is my classmate. He is with us along the way, I ask you to love and favor. - On the way, Terekhov told how they took Sevastopol, Sapun Mountain. Time passed quickly, there is moonshine and all that. We reached the city of Falesti, in Moldova, they had to go further north, but I didn’t, they said goodbye.

I went to the commandant, he suggested in which village our brigade was stationed. I came to the headquarters of the brigade, I show the documents. - Why did you come? - Don't make noise, please, I'm in.

There is nothing to do there, all the troops are equipped there. Okay, go to reserve. Go to the special section. I went there, they asked for my title, awards. I say that there are no awards.

How none? There is. You have the Order of the Red Star, and you are presented to the Order of the Patriotic War. - It can't be, it's a mistake.

We don't make mistakes. - Where is my order? - In the unit, in the battalion. - They told me where the battalion was.

Well, now go to the reserve. I come to the reserve to spend the night, and there is Colonel Rozanov. - Are you coming to me again? Well, rest, sit here for a while on millet porridge.

Comrade Colonel, allow me three days of leave. - What for? - Yes, somewhere in the battalion my order, you need to get it. He sees that my hand is tied.

Well, if that's the case, then please, it's not far away. But remember, a day of delay is a day of arrest. Two days - two days of arrest. Three days - the tribunal. - There is! - I turn around and set off on foot at the sign "Birch", it was our battalion.

A small plaque with the word "Birch" at the crossroads, and an arrow indicating the direction. I came to the village, I look - there is a group of officers. I'm on one side of the street, they're on the other. He looked around - ours, and among them the chief of staff of the battalion Shamrai.

Zhurnakov, where are you from? We have lost you! - And I didn’t even write letters from the hospital. - Well, well, now I have no time, I'll get the documents at the headquarters, we'll go together. Arrives on the "jeep": - Sit down! - Brought to the battalion.

Oh, how are you? Alive and well, they talked. The next day they hand me an order before the ranks. The battalion commander is still the same, many soldiers remember me, and some are new. The battalion commander promised to transfer from the reserve to the battalion.

I am 20 years old, a boy, but drunk, I met my comrades! You know what mood I was in! The documents were sent, and there the Iasi-Kishinev operation began, then Romania, Bucharest, then Hungary, Budapest, crossing the Danube went. - How did you fight with an unhealed hand in Romania and Hungary?

The appearance of the term "sapper" refers to the 17th century. Then this word was used to refer to people who dig under the enemy walls of fortresses with the aim of their subsequent destruction. At the end of the same century, sapper units were separated into a separate unit in France, and in 1712 in Russia. Over time, the specialization of sappers has expanded significantly.

Probably everyone knows the saying: "A sapper makes a mistake once." Its appearance is associated with an extremely high risk of carrying out work on the disposal of ammunition and demining the territory. Another phrase is also known - "A sapper makes mistakes twice, and the first time is when he becomes a sapper." Indeed, not every person will be able to adequately carry out such a difficult and life-threatening mission.

Every year about 25 thousand people die from mines, shells and bombs. Each sapper must have knowledge of more than 700 types of mines, as well as know the main types of ammunition used in all armies of the world. So, for example, during the demining in Yugoslavia, Russian sappers dealt mainly with the so-called British Mk1 submunitions and American BLU 97B / B and A / B. These types of mine-like objects are considered even more dangerous than the standard mines themselves, since the detonator used with their design has the ability to generate a current to fire the detonator even after a long period of being in the ground.

At the end of 2011, Russian sappers completed demining work on Serbian territory, where part of the South Stream gas pipeline is to pass. Over the entire period of work, the military managed to neutralize over one and a half thousand explosive objects, including aerial bombs, mortar and anti-personnel mines, and artillery shells. The work was carried out mainly near the town of Parachin. About 400 explosive objects were found here, which appeared at different times - from the First World War to 1999, when NATO troops bombed Serbian territories.

A little earlier, in the autumn of the same year, in the Moscow region, the forces of the 179th center of the Russian Emergencies Ministry discovered and neutralized an artillery shell from the Second World War. For the entire autumn period, a total of about 12 thousand shells were destroyed.

The sappers of the Republic of Dagestan cannot complain about the lack of work. Every day there are more and more reports about the mining of any objects.

So, a few days ago, a car was found near the village of Nechaevka, in which an improvised explosive device was found. According to experts, its total capacity was about 35 kilograms of TNT. The device was destroyed with a hydrodynamic destroyer. The device itself was made from a zinc bucket with explosives inside. There was also a detonator. Moreover, two bags of ammonium nitrate were found in the car, which, of course, would have increased the power of the explosion.

Another similar demining operation took place near the village of Komsomolskoye, where four improvised explosive devices were found on the side of the Kavkaz federal highway. All of them were blown up. After their destruction, funnels were formed about two meters deep, their diameter was 5 meters. The next day traffic on the highway was restored. Recall that a total of six canisters of explosives were found buried on the side of the road. The first bomb was destroyed almost immediately. During the neutralization of the second, a sapper of the Dagestan Ministry of Internal Affairs died, and 8 more people were injured.

As a rule, most often reports of mines and other explosive substances come from builders who are digging a foundation pit for the foundation of a future building, or from summer residents. Which discover similar "surprises" during the harvest.

As experts say, there is nothing terrible and special in demining. The most important thing is to know well what this or that projectile looks like in the context, what type of fuse is installed, and also on what principle it works. With everything, you must follow all safety rules and not rush.
When there is a temporary lull and there are no emergency calls, sappers spend most of their time at the training grounds, where they train to bring their actions to automaticity. Special sapper equipment weighs about 16 kilograms, and body armor, knee pads and a high Kevlar collar hinder movement, but temporary inconvenience can be endured, because life is more expensive.

Each of the pyrotechnicians has children. And yet, they risk their lives daily. They themselves say that everyone chose a profession to their liking, and that if it is good to know what is better to do and in what situation, then problems should not arise at all.

It is precisely in order to avoid problems when clearing a radio-controlled land mine that a special suitcase is used, with the help of which radio waves are jammed in a cordoned off area. Then the cynologist with the dog starts work. In order for the dog to be able to feel explosives, not a single training takes place.

After the dog detects a dangerous device, the sapper digs it out using a thin probe, a sapper shovel, and then his hands. After that, the person in charge of working with the landmine, hiding behind a shield, moves the bomb into the armored tank with the help of a special mechanical arm. Even if this bomb explodes now, there will be practically no negative consequences.

It is hard to imagine, but just a few years ago, sappers had only primitive mine detectors and personal protective equipment from uniforms. Today, all this, of course, is also present in the arsenal of sappers, but now they can also boast of special suits, mechanized means for detecting mines and shells, and universal remote-controlled demining kits. In addition, Russian explosives experts also have night vision devices, an explosion localization device, a set of inspection mirrors, telescopic probes with interchangeable tips. Moreover, there are also state-of-the-art mine detectors for finding mines of various types.

Over the past few years, special suits have been developed for sappers that can protect against all kinds of explosion factors. The suit includes a protective jacket and pants, a helmet with armored glass, mine boots, Kevlar gloves, as well as additional armored panels designed to protect the most vulnerable parts of the body. A very important characteristic of this suit is that it can be quickly removed in case of urgent need.

All such suits have a built-in voice communication system, as well as climate control. The suit has autonomous power supplies, which are designed for eight hours of continuous operation. On the helmets, in addition to the remote control module, a powerful flashlight is also mounted.
In addition to the suit, new boots developed in Canada should also protect the sapper from undermining. They have already received the name "spider boot". This device is a "legs-stilts" attached to the boots. Such a device reduces the possibility of hitting a mine, and also forms a small gap between the explosive device and the boot, thus reducing. Degree of destruction of the explosion. The tests carried out showed that even if the boot hits the fuse, the sapper will not receive significant damage. In addition to the "spider boot", special nozzles have also been developed for working on sand or soft ground.

Today, even in peacetime, thousands of square kilometers around the globe are an explosive zone due to the large number of mines and shells left there. So the sappers will not have to rest.

Before Afghanistan, I was absolutely sure that a sapper makes mistakes only once in a lifetime. There were even jokes about this - a kind of cheerful "black humor". Here is one: “To err is human…” – the commander began a conversation with the sapper’s wife from afar. Or here: "The only mistake - and one leg is here, the second is there," the commander edified to the young soldiers who arrived at the sapper unit.

Minesweeper is wrong twice

Trophies of Soviet intelligence officers: 1 - Pakistani P1Mk1 mine, 2 - British delayed action fuse, 3 - American demolition machine, 4 - British-made tension mine fuse. Photo from the book "GRU Special Forces in Afghanistan"

But the officers of the hotel engineer-sapper battalion of our 5th motorized rifle division only laughed at my knowledge. They convinced me that the sapper is wrong twice: "The first time is when he decides to become a sapper."

In sapper business, one cannot do without such “black humor”: so to speak, the profession obliges. The guys in the insapbat were very proud of this (original) profession.

After all, there was a real mine war going on in Afghanistan. It was, as it were, parallel to the motorized rifle-artillery-air war. Statistics: the biggest losses of our troops were precisely from explosions on dushman mines, although everything was taken, whatever it was, precautionary measures. "Spirits" knew their business. But we were great too!

Our sappers were highly respected and admired. They were brave and courageous people - pros, docks and experts in their field. Thanks to their exceptional work, our outposts were reliably protected by mine laying from attack from any side. And the Mujahideen did not even have such an idea how to storm any outpost - this is no exaggeration.

For kilometers around, various mines were installed - on "stretch marks", jumping out, directional and booby traps. On large areas, continuous mining was carried out with “petal” mines, helicopters and Uragan multiple launch rocket systems. The “petal”, which was a colored small polyethylene pad, could not kill, but it tore off a hand or a foot. True, the Basmachi soon found control over them: they swept them into piles with brooms, and then undermined them.

The sappers joked that there are also mines that explode from the fact that you look at them the wrong way. And what, we were armed with mines that reacted to the frequency of human steps.

The simplest mine is a signal mine. After someone clung to the stretched wire - "stretching", she began to whistle, shooting upward lighting lights. The area where they were installed was shot ahead of time. It instantly opened up concentrated fire. No chance for the enemy! True, in the vast majority of cases, these "signals" worked on jackals and porcupines. The sappers sighed, but weren't particularly upset. Again, they joked in the sense that not every American billionaire can boast that he ate a rare delicacy - fried porcupine meat. And our soldiers on other days ate it like an ordinary beef or pork stew.

Offensive "mines" from dushmans

Not risking "in Kappel" (as in the film "Chapaev") to storm our outposts, the "spirits" fired at them with mortars or rockets - eres. The place where they were released from was quickly determined and also necessarily mined.

By order, after each installation of mines, a minefield form was to be drawn up in two copies. One of them was ordered to be sent to a higher headquarters. But who was engaged in such “paper-making painting” with almost daily one-time mine productions?!

Dushmans literally got one of our outposts. The shelling of the eres was carried out every other day from three different points. The shells were launched from a distance of 5-7 kilometers. Chinese eres were mounted on sandbags, which were delivered to the firing position with donkeys. It was not easy to launch from stones: the projectile could sharply change direction. And although the accuracy of the Mujahideen fire was minimal (if there were hits, it was purely accidental), but even with such accuracy, the “spirits” were able to smash the only field kitchen with a phosphorus shell and seriously damage the water tank. And until the new cookery and water heater were fitted, people were on the verge of survival.

Artillery reconnaissance was called in and the exact launch site was determined from the trajectories. The places were shot. But the Basmachi were cunning. Eres began to launch with the help of ... thermometers. An ordinary mercury thermometer was disassembled and in the evening a thin copper wire was placed on a column. In the morning, when the sun rose, the mercury lifted the wires up, and contact was made with the second wire. Start! Artillery returned fire, but the enemy was not there.

Sappers were called in and all three enemy positions were mined. But the shelling still continued.

Moreover, when the sappers again climbed into the mountains for additional mining, they were mortally insulted! The mines were removed, and in their place the dushmans relieved themselves of great need, and, I apologize for the details, they laid impressive heaps. I had to bear righteous indignation to install a set of mines "Hunting" - the very ones that worked on the steps of a person and exploded when he entered the zone of continuous destruction.

One senior lieutenant - a sapper spoke about the principle of operation of these mines, which were secret at that time. Everyone was interested in what kind of things these were, and the owner of the secret did not break down for a long time, forcing himself to beg to reveal the state secret to his own colleagues. Confidence in victory was inspired by the words of the starley that he bought Japanese batteries for the power supply in an Afghan shop - a dukan. So more reliable! Our “finger-type” ones from the warehouse, as usual, were expired, and the power supply of the set of mines was designed so that when the voltage dropped, the entire system self-destructed. “It’s a pity that such a thing will disappear without work,” said the officer.

Thanks to this starley, “such a thing” did not disappear in vain. A couple of days later in the evening we heard an explosion. In the morning, climbing into the mountains, they found two corpses, a wounded donkey and ammunition. The shelling finally stopped.

About people - "freaks"

Meanwhile, to whom is the war, and to whom is the mother dear, or in the family is not without a black sheep. A couple of months after these events, the regiment received a letter from customs, which reported that when crossing the border, as many as 40 thermometers were confiscated from one of our ensigns. 40! A very specific investigation was carried out, but the ensign constantly repeated that, showing sincere feelings of an internationalist warrior, he wanted to help the Afghan hospital in Herat, and he had never heard of launching “some” missiles with the help of thermometers.

Although it looked very unconvincing (the vast majority of ensigns in those days had the authority of grabbers), the "sincere internationalist warrior" managed, as we used to say, to get away with it. Then he was boycotted in the unit - no one shook hands with him, not to mention having a drink with him in company. But it didn't hurt. It would have been more painful if the officers of the outpost could fulfill their promise and publicly put the thermometer into the “crack” in the ensign - this is how we called the place just below the back, but even here the one who got away managed to evade the well-deserved punishment. Over time, everything was somehow forgotten.

Moreover, life gave birth to new "heroes". One soldier decided to sell the “spirits” five 82-mm mines for the Tray mortar. They had exactly the same ones, again made in China. I turned to the Afghans, but they turned out to be “for the shuravi” and reported where they should. The soldier received five years of real time - figuratively speaking, one year per mine.

Another case. The captain and ensign were inflamed with the desire to “quickly” buy a VCR (a terrible shortage in those years in the Union!). And where is the "easy" money to get? Without further ado, they decided to sell ... a tanker. I mean, not the car with the tank itself, but the contents of the latter. The most interesting thing is that the “entrepreneurs” did not dump the fuel “wholesale”, but sold it in one of the villages for bottling. Kerosene was in great demand among the local population, and six tons of flammable liquid "flew" in a couple of hours in barrels, cans, cans, bottles, wineskins and even plastic bags. Instead of "vidiks" - respectively three and two years of imprisonment.

But enough about such figures.

From heroic death to ridiculous one step

The mines on the roads were a very big danger. In the Kandahar region, where our famous "desert" battalion was located, in the provinces of Helmand and Farah there were roads that were mined every night. After they were trawled by tractors and tanks, the movement of the column was carried out strictly along the track. I remember very well our visual agitation in those places - poles with posters: “Driver! Departure from the track means death!”, “Dangerous road! 1985 - 39 explosions.

Drivers and seniors of such cars as GAZ-66, KamAZ and MAZ experienced bad feelings. After all, the cab of these machines was right on the wheels, which could run into mines. True, everything depended on the power of the installed explosive charge.

Sometimes the "spirits" wrapped the contacts of the fuse with paper, laid boards and sprinkled them with earth. After the passage of several cars, the paper was frayed, and an explosion was heard - in the middle of the column. This is how my fellow countryman Senior Lieutenant Boris Kodantsev from Semki, a town near Minsk, died. In the engineer-sapper battalion, he was engaged in field water supply. The explosion was so strong that Borya, who, as expected, was wearing a helmet and bulletproof vest, broke through the roof of the Ural with his head and fell a few meters from the car. The soldier who first ran up to him, at the sight of a large pool of blood and a disfigured body, fell down, losing consciousness.

The most massive of the enemy mines is the Italian plastic anti-tank mine "TS-11.5". The mine detector "did not take" it - from the metal there was only a small needle in the fuse. Finding the "Italian" was difficult, and if they were found, then no one was in a hurry to take risks. Mines were often placed on non-recoverability. Move, even touch - an explosion! They undermined them with an overhead charge or removed them with a “cat” - a rope with metal grips at the end.

Ridiculous deaths have also been associated with mines. In the winter of 1987, on one of the division’s combat operations in the Musakala region, the deputy regiment commander chastised the head of the engineering service every day for the lack of results in his work: “Fuck you, find me at least one mine! What are you doing here? I’ll put you on trial if someone gets blown up!”

Found a few bookmarks. The head of the engineering service introduced half of them: here, they say, they found, but not one. And he cunningly hid the rest of the mines: they will curse again, I will say that I just found and removed it. In the tent, I decided to conduct a mine-clearing class with two ensigns in the rear and a lieutenant-doctor. Eleven and a half kilograms of TNT blew people into small pieces. They collected what was left of them in sheets, not being able to determine whose body this “detail” was ...

Dogs that saved the lives of soldiers