was preparing in the Caucasus offensive in the Maikop direction by the forces of the Black Sea group (18, 46, 47, 56 armies) under the command of General Petrov.

On January 11, 1943, the plan was approved. By order of the Headquarters, its implementation had to begin immediately, so the implementation of the “Mountains” plan began the very next day. The offensive was difficult, but in this part it was crowned with success: by January 23, the German defenses south of Krasnodar were broken through, and the path for the withdrawal of German troops from North Caucasus was cut off. During the fighting, which lasted until early February, Soviet troops came out to Sea of ​​Azov and took Maykop. The time has come to begin the naval phase of the operation.

Preparation

It should be noted that since November 1942, without connection with the “Sea” plan, a plan for a landing operation in the Novorossiysk area was being developed. The locations and order of the operation were determined: the main landing force landed from ships in the South Ozereyka area, and the diversionary force landed in the Stanichka area. The second landing was supposed to disorient the enemy, creating the impression of an amphibious operation on a wide front.

Since November 1942, the troops were being trained: regular training was carried out, during which they practiced landing with equipment on an unequipped shore and the interaction of the landing force with fire support ships.

The main landing group under the command of Colonel Gordeev consisted of the 83rd and 255th brigades Marine Corps, 165th Rifle Brigade, separate front-line airborne regiment, separate machine gun battalion, 563rd tank battalion, 29th anti-tank artillery regiment. The auxiliary landing force under the command of Major Kunikov consisted of 275 marines without heavy weapons.

The plan provided for a landing immediately after the breakthrough of the front near Novorossiysk by the forces of the 47th Army of the Black Sea Group. The landing force had to land under the cover of fire from support ships and air bombardment, suppress enemy resistance on the shore, connect with the landing airborne troops, and then break through to Novorossiysk, connect with the main forces, ensure blocking and subsequent capture of the city.

It can be noted that the preliminary training of personnel and the actual landing operations were carried out quite efficiently. However, as subsequent studies showed tragic events, organizing the delivery of troops, coordinating the actions of the various formations participating in the operation turned out to be insufficiently developed. So, for example, the landing groups were in three different ports, which could not but create additional difficulties with their synchronous delivery to the landing points. The landing craft moved to the landing point under their own power; accordingly, the group of landing ships was forced to match the slowest of them in their movement.

Start of operation

Defense of Malaya Zemlya

Award certificate from K.I. Turbaevsky, head of the work to strengthen the coastal defense and establish artillery positions on Malaya Zemlya. The inscription “...The Gold Star Medal” was erased and replaced with “...The Order of the Red Star.”

Award sheet ( reverse side) Turbaevsky K.I. It is clearly visible that the inscription “...with the Gold Star medal” was erased and replaced with “...with the Order of the Red Star.”

The advance detachment of the diversionary landing force, having landed in the Stanichka area, quickly and decisively ensured the capture and retention of the area coastal strip several kilometers wide. During the night of February 4, two more detachments of paratroopers landed, so during the day of February 4, more than 800 people were already defending the area. The Germans quickly responded to the landing, there was continuous artillery fire on the landing party, bombing attacks were carried out, several attempts were made to counterattack and drop the landing party into the sea, but in the first day they managed to hold the bridgehead. After the Soviet command was convinced of the failure of the main landing, the transfer of troops to the captured bridgehead began. Over the course of five nights, two marine brigades, an infantry brigade, and an anti-tank destroyer regiment were landed ashore, and several hundred tons of equipment were delivered. The number of troops was increased to 17 thousand, and later five more partisan detachments landed on the bridgehead.

The delay in moving the main landing site allowed the Germans to block the landing and made it impossible to attack Novorossiysk. However, the command decided to hold the captured bridgehead in order to use it later, in a more favorable conditions. Malaya Zemlya was seen as the key to the liberation of the Taman Peninsula.

The defenders were in extremely unfavorable conditions, in open, well-exposed terrain, while the enemy controlled all the surrounding heights. Therefore, defense was possible only due to the carrying out of enormous-scale sapper work, which was led by engineer-captain Kirill Ivanovich Turbaevsky: the entire occupied territory was dug with trenches, including in rocky soil, 230 hidden observation posts and more than 500 firing points were created, underground warehouses, the command post was located in a rock shelter at a depth of six meters. The delivery of cargo and reinforcements was difficult for obvious reasons, so that the defenders of Lesser Land constantly experienced difficulties with supplies, including ammunition and food. According to Brezhnev, entire units were sent into the forest to collect wild garlic.

On April 17, the enemy attempted to liquidate the bridgehead. For this purpose, a strike force of 27 thousand people was created under the command of Wetzel. The offensive was carried out with the support of aviation and heavy artillery, the bombing was carried out almost continuously, and enemy aircraft had an overwhelming numerical superiority. A specially created group “Box” operated at sea, which included torpedo boats and submarines, she was entrusted with the task of cutting communications and destroying the retreating Soviet troops. Three days passed in continuous attacks and bombings, however, the bridgehead held. Wanting to preserve Malaya Zemlya at all costs, the command allocated three aviation corps from the Headquarters reserve, which ensured air superiority and bombing German positions. Aviation managed to destroy two German airfields, after which the intensity of bombing of Malaya Zemlya immediately decreased.

The fighting on Malaya Zemlya continued for another three and a half months. On September 9, the operation to capture Novorossiysk began, in which the bridgehead in the Stanichka area played a role - one of the three groups of troops that ensured the blocking and capture of the city advanced from it. By September 16, Novorossiysk was liberated. This date is also considered the date of the end of the defense of Malaya Zemlya, which lasted 225 days.

Museums and monuments

memorial

ensemble

in the village

Initially, the defense of Malaya Zemlya was considered in the Soviet military history as one of the undoubtedly heroic and noteworthy, but still quite ordinary episodes of the Great Patriotic War.

In the 1970s, a process began to gradually increase the role of this episode, associated with the name of Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, who during the war, as an army political worker, military rank Colonel fought in Malaya Zemlya. L. I. Brezhnev published part of his memoirs dating back to the period of the Great Patriotic War, entitled “Malaya Zemlya”.

According to the recollections of K.I. Turbaevsky, the head of work to strengthen the defense of the coast and set up artillery positions on Malaya Zemlya, when he and the sailors met on the pier a delegation of the political department that had arrived on a seiner, an enemy air raid suddenly began. The guests, and first of all Colonel L.I. Brezhnev, did not wait for the bombs to explode and jumped into the water together. The officers and sailors who met them first extinguished the fallen incendiary bombs and cleared the passage to the pier from mines, and then began to fish out the floundering members of the delegation from the water with hooks. According to K.I. Turbaevsky, no one was injured during the raid and L.I. Brezhnev was not conscious. did not lose, and it was he, pulled out of the water, who praised them, trying to smooth out the awkwardness from the panic that arose among the political workers: “Well done, sailors!”

Malaya Zemlya is a section of terrain on the western shore of Novorossiysk (Tsemes) Bay in the area of ​​the southern outskirts of Novorossiysk (Cape Myskhako), where during the Great Patriotic War there were battles for the liberation of Novorossiysk and the Taman Peninsula.

At the beginning of 1943, Novorossiysk was occupied by German and Romanian troops. In February 1943, in a fierce battle, a landing force of soldiers and sailors recaptured an area of ​​about 30 square meters from a greatly outnumbered enemy. km. This small piece of land, which our troops defended for 225 days, was called “Small Land”. The landing operation was preceded by intense combat training.

A landing force was formed in Gelendzhik. It was attended by great forces and even tanks. The main landing force was planned to land in the area of ​​South Ozereyka, the auxiliary one - on the western shore of Tsemes Bay in the suburbs of Novorossiysk - Stanichka.

The landing was carried out by ships of the Black Sea Fleet, and they were supported from the air by the naval air force. However bad weather and lack of coordination of actions did not allow assistance to the landing, and it ended in failure. The operation began on the night of February 4, but due to strong storm land the main troops in in full force in the South Ozereyka area it was not possible.

The auxiliary landing was carried out more successfully, the actions of which were unexpected for the enemy.

(Military Encyclopedia. Military Publishing House. Moscow. in 8 volumes, 2004)

Under the command of Major Caesar Kunikov, using a smoke screen, 275 soldiers with light weapons landed in the Stanichka area. Initially it was supposed to be a false landing, but it became the main one. With a swift attack on the move, Kunikov’s detachment occupied a small bridgehead. Two groups landed behind him in succession. The bridgehead was expanded to 4 km along the front and 2.5 km in depth. Later, the remaining forces of the main landing force made their way to this bridgehead. Over the course of a few nights, the 255th and 83rd were landed here. separate brigades Marine Corps, 165th Rifle Brigade, 31st Separate Parachute Regiment, 29th Anti-Tank Fighter Regiment and other units - in total up to 17 thousand people, which expanded the bridgehead to 30 square meters. km, released by February 10 settlements Aleksina, Myskhako, 14 southern quarters of Novorossiysk.

On February 12, the command united the 83rd, 255th separate marine brigades and the 31st parachute landing regiment into the 20th Rifle Corps. Subsequently, the command of the 16th Rifle Corps, 4 rifle brigades and 5 partisan detachments landed on the bridgehead.

Since February 19, the troops operating on the bridgehead were controlled by the task force of the 18th Army, led by Major General Alexei Grechkin. Was held great job on engineering equipment of the bridgehead.

For 7 months, Soviet troops heroically defended Malaya Zemlya, repelling attacks by large forces of infantry and tanks German army and defended the bridgehead. The bridgehead remained until September 1943 and played a role in the liberation of Novorossiysk. On September 16, 1943, together with the advancing Soviet troops, the defenders of the bridgehead completely liberated Novorossiysk.

For perseverance, courage and heroism, 21 soldiers were awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union, thousands of defenders of Malaya Zemlya were awarded orders and medals of the USSR.

Malaya Zemlya became widely known thanks to Secretary General Central Committee of the CPSU Leonid Brezhnev, who in 1978 published his war memoirs. In the book “Malaya Zemlya,” published in millions of copies, he spoke about his stay in Novorossiysk during the fighting on Malaya Zemlya as the head of the political department of the 18th Army.

After the book was published, this heroic, but insignificant episode in the overall scale of the war began to increase immensely, more was written and talked about about it than about other, truly great battles of the war.

Historian Roy Medvedev once spoke about a number of moments embellished in the book with reference to the opinions of direct participants in the battles on Malaya Zemlya.

By 1985, the book had gone through several dozen editions in the USSR, with a total circulation exceeding 5 million copies. After 1985, the book was not published until February 2003, when the administration published “Little Land” at its own expense Krasnodar region to be presented to local veterans. The circulation of the publication was 1 thousand copies.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources.

After winning Battle of Stalingrad The headquarters of the Supreme High Command decided to build on their success in the southwest of the USSR. Soviet troops launched an offensive in the direction of Donbass and the Caucasus. In early February, the Red Army reached the Sea of ​​Azov and liberated Maykop.

On Black Sea coast Novorossiysk was the key defensive area of ​​the Nazis. One of the main blows to the Nazis was supposed to be delivered from the sea by landing troops. Also, the Soviet command hoped to divert significant enemy forces by threatening to create a bridgehead on the coast for a further attack on Novorossiysk.

For this purpose, Operation Sea was developed, the commander of which was appointed Vice Admiral Philip Oktyabrsky. Two groups of troops of the 18th Airborne Army were to land on the coast southwest of Novorossiysk. The first is in the area of ​​Yuzhnaya Ozereyka (Yuzhnaya Ozereevka), the second is not far from the village of Stanichki and Cape Myskhako.

The group in the South Ozereyka area was the main one, and the group in the Stanichka area was a distraction. However, the storm disrupted the original plans. On the night of February 4, 1943 262 Soviet soldiers and under the command of Major Caesar Kunikov they made a successful landing only near Myskhako. This piece of coast was called Malaya Zemlya, and Kunikov’s detachment became the main landing force.

Writer Georgy Sokolov, in his collection of short stories “Malaya Zemlya,” published in 1949, reports that this name was invented by the Marines themselves. In support, the author cites the text of their letter to the Military Council of the 18th Airborne Army.

“We named the piece of land near the city of Novorossiysk that we reclaimed from the enemy as Malaya Zemlya. Although it is small, this is our land, Soviet... and we will never give it up to any enemy... We swear by our battle flags... to withstand the upcoming battles with the enemy, grind their forces and cleanse Taman of fascist scoundrels. Let’s turn Small Land into a big grave for the Nazis,” said the letter from the “Little Landers.”

“Complete confusion reigned”

Historians have differing opinions about how the landing took place. Most domestic authors claim that the Soviet troops did not carry out the necessary artillery preparation and the Germans met the Soviet paratroopers with heavy fire.

In addition, the enemy rushed into a foot attack, trying to destroy the Red Army landing force. However, Kunikov’s detachment, consisting of well-trained fighters, was able to provide worthy resistance and push back the superior enemy forces, also taking up advantageous defensive positions.

At the same time, the German historian Paul Karel, a former translator of Adolf Hitler, in his book “Eastern Front. Scorched Earth" presents a different picture of events. According to Karel, at the time of the landing “not a single shot was fired from the German side.”

Referring to eyewitnesses from Nazi troops, Karel reports that the Germans for a long time they could not understand whose ships were sailing to the shore. Then the Soviet ships opened fire and destroyed the communications center between the Nazi artillery crews. Confusion in the ranks of the Wehrmacht allowed the Marines to disembark unhindered.

“There was complete confusion. Nobody knew what happened... Kunikov’s fighters dug in alone or in small groups and fired so wildly from everywhere that the uninitiated got the impression that an entire division had landed. Absolute ignorance of the situation deprived the German command of firmness,” Karel describes the situation.

Another source telling about the landing south of Novorossiysk is the book “Malaya Zemlya” by the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Colonel Leonid Brezhnev. At that time, the future leader of the Soviet state held the position of head of the political department of the 18th Army. Brezhnev is one of the eyewitnesses of Operation Sea.

According to him, the actions of the Soviet artillery and fleet before the landing at Novorossiysk were coordinated. In addition, for the first time, Soviet sailors used jet systems volley fire. At least one rocket launcher, as Brezhnev writes, was mounted on the minesweeper "Skumbria".

"Two torpedo boats on high speed crossed the path of the landing craft, leaving a smoke screen to hide them from fire from the shore. The patrol boat hit the area of ​​the fish factory, suppressing enemy firing points left after the artillery attack. At the moment when the Kunikovites (fighters of Kunikov’s detachment) rushed to the shore, our batteries carried the fire into the depths,” says the book of the Secretary General of the CPSU Central Committee.

"Very important area"

In a conversation with RT, military historian Yuri Melkonov noted that a professionally conducted landing operation is the highest manifestation of military art. Landing behind enemy lines on an unprepared bridgehead is an extremely risky undertaking. But Kunikov’s detachment coped with this task brilliantly.

“I must say frankly, the Soviet Union had modest experience in conducting landing operations. There were few successful landings. What the Soviet marines did near Novorossiysk was not only a feat, but also an example of professional work. If we talk about command, then, probably, the personality of Major Kunikov, who received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, played a big role in the success,” Melkonov said.

According to the expert, a handful of Soviet soldiers were entrenched on virtually bare ground. A section of the territory in the Myskhako area was devoid of natural fortifications, and the Germans fired such fire from commanding heights that “stones and earth burned.” Despite this, the Marines were able to drive the Nazis out of the most dangerous positions and received powerful reinforcements in the following days.

“I’ll try not to overuse numbers, but I’ll give one now. When we occupied the bridgehead, the Nazis attacked continuously, raining down a huge amount of shells and bombs, not to mention machine-gun fire. And it is estimated that there were 1,250 kg of this deadly metal for each defender of Malaya Zemlya,” writes Brezhnev.

In his book, the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee says that in the first minutes the assault detachment of marines “managed to occupy a very small, but very important section of the coast.” A small group of paratroopers immediately went on the offensive, destroying about a thousand enemy soldiers and repulsing four artillery pieces. An hour and a half after the landing, a second group of paratroopers arrived to help Kunikov’s detachment, then another. On February 4, the total number of defenders of Malaya Zemlya reached 800 people.

• Malaya Zemlya
• voennoe-delo.com

If you believe the data in Brezhnev’s book, within a few nights two marine brigades, an infantry brigade, an anti-tank fighter regiment and other units landed on the bridgehead. Hundreds of tons of ammunition and food were unloaded from the landing ships. By February 10, the Soviet group reached 17 thousand people. The soldiers were armed with machine guns, mortars, artillery pieces and anti-tank guns.

Soviet troops, not having the necessary shelters on the shore, short terms created an extensive underground infrastructure. The tunnels contained firing points, ammunition depots, rooms for the wounded, a command post and a power plant.

“In essence, the entire Malaya Zemlya has turned into an underground fortress. 230 securely hidden observation points became her eyes, 500 fire shelters became her armored fists, tens of kilometers of communication passages, thousands of rifle cells, trenches, and crevices were opened. Necessity forced us to dig adits in the rocky ground, build underground ammunition depots, underground hospitals, and an underground power plant,” recalls Brezhnev.

"The Nazis were afraid of them"

The main goal of Operation Sea was the liberation of Novorossiysk. The paratroopers needed to recapture strategically important heights from the enemy, ensuring the unhindered passage of Soviet warships. The Marines would then link up with ground forces, completely blocking the Nazi garrison.

However, these plans were not destined to come true. In the second half of February 1943, the Red Army received a powerful counterattack on the southern flank and was forced to leave the previously liberated Donbass. The assault on Novorossiysk was postponed until September. The troops that landed on Malaya Zemlya began serious problems with supplies.

“The Soviet marines found themselves in a difficult situation, but did not leave this piece of territory to the enemy. The Nazis launched their most violent attacks on them in mid-April. It is estimated that the heroic defense of Malaya Zemlya lasted 225 days. Only on September 9 did the Marines go on the offensive against Novorossiysk, but all this time they were carrying out an important mission - they were distracting significant enemy forces,” Melkonov noted.

• Reproduction of a drawing by artist Pavel Yakovlevich Kirpichev “Landing”
• RIA Novosti

RT's interlocutor believes that the landing on Malaya Zemlya was not in vain, despite the risks and trials to which the Marines were subjected. The paratroopers completed their task of creating a bridgehead for the attack on Novorossiysk and in the first half of September 1943 they became one of the main strike groups.

“The Soviet naval infantry during the war did not have special ships, equipment and weapons. However, the black berets were one of the most trained units. They were taught to land on unprepared territory and fight in rocky terrain. They were masters of close combat and hand-to-hand combat. The Nazis were afraid of them. This indisputable fact“- emphasized Melkonov.

Malaya Zemlya is a section of terrain on the western shore of Novorossiysk (Tsemes) Bay in the area of ​​the southern outskirts of Novorossiysk (Cape Myskhako), where during the Great Patriotic War there were battles for the liberation of Novorossiysk and the Taman Peninsula.

At the beginning of 1943, Novorossiysk was occupied by German and Romanian troops. In February 1943, in a fierce battle, a landing force of soldiers and sailors recaptured an area of ​​about 30 square meters from a greatly outnumbered enemy. km. This small piece of land, which our troops defended for 225 days, was called “Small Land”. The landing operation was preceded by intense combat training.

A landing force was formed in Gelendzhik. Large forces and even tanks took part in it. The main landing force was planned to land in the area of ​​South Ozereyka, the auxiliary one - on the western shore of Tsemes Bay in the suburbs of Novorossiysk - Stanichka.

The landing was carried out by ships of the Black Sea Fleet, and they were supported from the air by the naval air force. However, bad weather and lack of coordination prevented the landing from being assisted, and it ended in failure. The operation began on the night of February 4, but due to a strong storm, it was not possible to land the main landing force in full force in the South Ozereyka area.

The auxiliary landing was carried out more successfully, the actions of which were unexpected for the enemy.

(Military Encyclopedia. Military Publishing House. Moscow. in 8 volumes, 2004)

Under the command of Major Caesar Kunikov, using a smoke screen, 275 soldiers with light weapons landed in the Stanichka area. Initially it was supposed to be a false landing, but it became the main one. With a swift attack on the move, Kunikov’s detachment occupied a small bridgehead. Two groups landed behind him in succession. The bridgehead was expanded to 4 km along the front and 2.5 km in depth. Later, the remaining forces of the main landing force made their way to this bridgehead. Over the course of a few nights, the 255th and 83rd separate marine brigades, the 165th rifle brigade, the 31st separate parachute landing regiment, the 29th anti-tank fighter regiment and other units were landed here - a total of up to 17 thousand people, which expanded the bridgehead to 30 sq. km, liberating the settlements of Aleksina, Myskhako, and 14 southern quarters of Novorossiysk by February 10.

On February 12, the command united the 83rd, 255th separate marine brigades and the 31st parachute landing regiment into the 20th Rifle Corps. Subsequently, the command of the 16th Rifle Corps, 4 rifle brigades and 5 partisan detachments landed on the bridgehead.

Since February 19, the troops operating on the bridgehead were controlled by the task force of the 18th Army, led by Major General Alexei Grechkin. A lot of work was done on the engineering equipment of the bridgehead.

For 7 months, Soviet troops heroically defended Malaya Zemlya, repelling attacks by large forces of infantry and tanks of the German army and defended the bridgehead. The bridgehead remained until September 1943 and played a role in the liberation of Novorossiysk. On September 16, 1943, together with the advancing Soviet troops, the defenders of the bridgehead completely liberated Novorossiysk.

For steadfastness, courage and heroism, 21 soldiers were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, thousands of defenders of Malaya Zemlya were awarded orders and medals of the USSR.

Malaya Zemlya became widely known thanks to the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev, who published his war memoirs in 1978. In the book “Malaya Zemlya,” published in millions of copies, he spoke about his stay in Novorossiysk during the fighting on Malaya Zemlya as the head of the political department of the 18th Army.

After the book was published, this heroic, but insignificant episode in the overall scale of the war began to increase immensely, more was written and talked about about it than about other, truly great battles of the war.

Historian Roy Medvedev once spoke about a number of moments embellished in the book with reference to the opinions of direct participants in the battles on Malaya Zemlya.

By 1985, the book had gone through several dozen editions in the USSR, with a total circulation exceeding 5 million copies. After 1985, the book was not published until February 2003, when “Little Land” was published at its own expense by the administration of the Krasnodar region for presentation to local veterans. The circulation of the publication was 1 thousand copies.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources.

"Malaya Zemlya" in Novorossiysk

The monument-ensemble “Malaya Zemlya” is located on the Black Sea coast in Tsemes Bay of Novorossiysk. The monument is part memorial complex dedicated to the “Heroes of the Civil and Great Patriotic Wars.”

Paratroopers' Oath

In April 1943, Soviet troops fought fierce battles near Novorossiysk. The piece of land recaptured from the enemy by the landing soldiers was called Malaya Zemlya. The paratroopers managed to gain a foothold and expand the bridgehead, actually biting into the ground. Realizing the importance of this wedge driven into the fascist defense wall, headquarters ordered to defend the line at any cost.

In the geographical sense, “Malaya Zemlya” does not exist; this name appeared thanks to the oath of the paratroopers who defended this territory:
“...We reclaimed from the enemy a piece of land near the city of Novorossiysk that we called Malaya Zemlya. Although it is small, this is our land, Soviet, it is watered with our sweat, our blood, and we will never give it up to any enemy... We swear by our battle flags, in the name of our wives and children, in the name of our beloved Motherland, we swear to stand in the upcoming battles with the enemy, grind their forces and cleanse Taman of fascist scoundrels. Let’s turn Malaya Zemlya into a big grave for the Nazis.”

Video

Photos

Bridgehead on the shore of Tsemes Bay

Two hundred and fifty soldiers of a marine detachment led by Major Ts.L. Kunikov landed in the Stanichka area and seized a small bridgehead on the shore of Tsemes Bay. Soon three more groups of Marines were transferred here. On February 5, it was decided to send the main landing forces to Stanichka.
The paratroopers managed to gain a foothold and expand the bridgehead, actually biting into the ground. Realizing the importance of this wedge driven into the fascist defense wall, headquarters ordered to defend the line at any cost.
Over two months of heavy fighting, it was possible to slightly expand the land captured by Kunikov’s paratroopers in the Stanichka-Myskhako area. However, the length of this section still did not exceed 8 km from west to east and 6 km from north to south. Total number The defenders of “Malaya Zemlya” were brought to 17,000 people, and several T-60 light tanks were transported here.

A new formation was formed within the 18th Army - an airborne group of troops under the leadership of General Grechkin. It was these units that had to defend “Malaya Zemlya” at any cost. All the dominant heights were in the hands of German troops, the bridgehead was well under fire. The key to successful defense could only be large-scale sapper and engineering work. Under the leadership of engineer-captain Turbaevsky K.I. the entire occupied territory was dug with trenches, including in rocky soil, 230 hidden observation posts and more than 500 firing points were equipped, and underground warehouses were created. Command post was in a rock shelter at a depth of six meters.
The heroism of our soldiers, the coordinated actions of aviation, navy and ground units made it possible to preserve this important bridgehead. The defense lasted another 3 long months, but the enemy failed to break the paratroopers. Having stood their ground, they fulfilled the oath made on February 5th.

Panoramas of the Malaya Zemlya complex

Location on the map